Operation Shanela: SAPS Has Arrested 16,000 Suspects Since the Start of December
- SAPS arrested more than 16,800 suspects nationwide in the first week of December 2025 as part of Operation Shanela II to ensure a safer festive season
- The arrests include suspects wanted for serious crimes such as murder, rape, attempted murder, drug offences, and human trafficking
- Operation Shanela II aims to strengthen police visibility and crime-fighting capacity, especially during he upcoming festive season
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The South African Police Service (SAPS) arrested more than 16,817 suspects nationwide between 1 and 7 December 2025 as part of Operation Shanela II, a national initiative aimed at ensuring a safer festive season.The arrests were made in connection with various offences, including murder, rape, assault, and drug possession.
According to SAPS, crime-fighting operations and intelligence-driven tracing units led to the apprehension of 2,626 suspects wanted for serious and violent crimes such as murder, attempted murder, rape, car hijackings, sexual offences, and house and business robberies.
SAPS shared the following statistics from the previous week on its official social media pages:
- SAPS shared the following statistics from the past week on its official social media pages:
- 2,626 individuals wanted for serious crimes were arrested
- 2 978 suspects were arrested for drug possession Western Cape with 1708 cases, KwaZulu-Natal, 360, Gauteng with 287 and the Eastern Cape with 279
- 27 suspects were arrested for human trafficking
- 417 arrested for possession of dangerous weapons
- 771 arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs
- 141 suspects arrested for rape
- 131 suspects arrested for attempted murder
- 146 additional suspects arrested for attempted murder (the highest numbers recorded in:KwaZulu-Natal with 46 suspects, followed by Western Cape with 22, Mpumalanga with 19 and Eastern Cape, 17)
- 65 stolen or hijacked vehicles recovered
Operation Shanela II was launched to combat serious and violent crime in South Africa
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Operation Shanela II was officially launched in April 2025 as a coordinated, intelligence-driven campaign designed to intensify the fight against serious and violent crimes across South Africa.
At the launch, National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola said that the second phase would build on the successes of the original Shanela operation, which resulted in over 1.2 million arrests in just 18 months.
Masemola emphasised that Operation Shanela II focuses on six major crime categories: murder (including gang-related and taxi-violence killings), vehicle hijackings, illegal firearms, drug-related offences, and gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF). The initiative aims to improve operational efficiency by increasing police visibility, enhancing the use of advanced technologies, and deploying officers based on real-time crime statistics.
3 crime -related and SAPS Briefly articles
Looking back, Briefly News reported that SAPS deployed 2 699 newly trained police officers in December 2024 to curb festive-season crime. An additional 500 officers were assigned to KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape to protect tourists and crack down on robbery, assault, murder, and alcohol-related crimes.
In another report, SAPS launched a manhunt after a 77-year-old Limpopo farmer was murdered near the Baltimore Tolwe policing area on 29 November 2025. The farmer was ambushed after leaving his house to check on his cattle. Meanwhile, the suspects allegedly tied up his wife and robbed the house before fleeing.
In earlier coverage, two suspects were killed in a shootout with SAPS on 19 November 2025 in KwaZulu-Natal. The men were wanted for robbery and murder. KZN police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda confirmed that one suspect was fatally wounded in the Mangazini Reserve in Folweni after police attempted to apprehend him. When officers approached, the suspects opened fire from inside a house, prompting police to return fire.
Source: Briefly News
