Today on the 27th of July, various SAPS clusters from national, provincial, regional and district level joined forces with the SANDF to retrieve all the looted goods.
They recovered an enormous number of looted items when they raided the two hostels that are located in Vosloorus.
Six suspects were also arrested during the course of the raid. However, the SAPS acting district commissioner, Brigadier, Themba Denge said the raid is a continuation of their operation, themed “Operation reclaiming the looted items from the looters’ which officially began at Kwa-Thema hostel in the Ekurhuleni region.
The acting district commissioner divulged, saying, “This operation started last week in Kwa-Thema hostel, after the successful result in that area, we decided to come here in Vosloorus. The reason we are targeting these hostels today is because we were tipped off, and the information which was gathered by the crime intelligence division revealed that most of the people who looted at Gold Spot shopping complex and Cambridge wholesale store ran straight to the hostels.
“We are not only targeting hostels, we have confiscated in various areas around Vosloorus before this operation. Nonetheless, we also know that looted items are still kept in certain areas, as the SAPS we advise those people who are in possession of stolen goods to voluntarily bring them forward before we act lawfully.
“I want to assure you that most of the perishable and non-perishable goods that are recovered today will be donated to welfare centres,” Denge promised.
By Matampane Raymond Mokwena