News and events

Drug-related arrests on the increase

Share |

10 September 2010

While drug-related crimes were up by 13.6% in South Africa in 2009/10, and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition up by 2.4%, this was partly a reflection of stepped-up action on the part of the police, says Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa.

Speaking in Pretoria at the release of South Africa's national crime statistics for the period 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010, Mthethwa said that both these types of crime were heavily dependent on police action for detection.

"Over the last year, we have engaged with a significant number of communities that are affected by the abuse of drugs," Mthethwa said, noting that the police had increased their ratio of apprehending people in drug-related crime by 13.6 percent compared to the previous year.

At the same time, he said, the increase in drug detection was an area of concern for the police because it indicated that there was an increase in the availability of drugs in the country.

Cases of drunken driving also increased, by 10.6 percent, in 2009/10. Mthethwa said that while the police would continue to mount operations against drunken driving, a more integrated approach from various sectors of government and society was called for.

Mthethwa expressed concern at the number of police firearms that were lost, adding that measures, including an integrated ballistic testing system at police stations, had been introduced to curb these losses.

"During the last fiscal year, we have recovered 61.6 percent of stolen or lost firearms. We shall be tightening the systems to ensure we improve on this percentage," the minister said.

Mthethwa expected that once the figure for next year had been finalised, and the bulk of the firearm amnesty figures included, there would be a greater increase in the number of firearms recovered.

Source: BuaNews