Franchesca Walker, ward 26 councillor, says the successful
operation held in Parow on Friday 31 August was a collective partnership
between the various stakeholders.
Stakeholders including Parow police, Metro
Police, neighbourhood watches, Law Enforcement, Community Policing Forum (CPF),
Voortrekker Road Corridor Improvement District (VRCID) and traffic officers
were deployed to execute the operation in Parow on Friday.
Walker initiated this collective operation to combat crime
after various complaints from residents of Parow, Parow Valley and the broader
ward about safety concerns.
These include issues of violence, criminal
activity, robberies at the train station and in the CBD, house break-ins and
drug-related issues identified through extensive investigation
Walker says various meetings over the past few months held
with stakeholders including the CPF, Specialised Investigation Unit (SIU),
Immigration, the Traffic Department, Subcouncil, the Problem Buildings Unit,
City of Cape Town line departments like the Solid Waste Department, the
Vulnerable People Unit and Social Development led to the operation.
Captain Williams, spokesperson for Parow police, says they
called it ‘Operation Squeeze’ because they want to push out the criminal
elements in the area.
Williams says roughly 50 people were involved in the
operation and were situated at hotspot areas which included the Parow train
station, Station Road, Parow Valley station, Hungry Lion and the post office.
According to Williams, people come from Elsies River,
Ravensmead, Uitsig and Delft and move into Parow and engage in criminal
activities. Fekile Dyantyi, head of Visible Policing at Parow Police Station,
says there were a few arrests in the early hours of the morning.
“There were
two vehicles for the K9 Unit to sniff some of the premises.”
Dyantyi told TygerBurger it is important for them to do
these operations to monitor the movement in the area when it’s month-end and
Sassa beneficiaries collect their money, and to monitor the traders as
robberies are prone to occur.
During the raid that started at 05:00, after officers
followed up on information, members of the City’s Metro Police, the Parow
police, neighbourhood watches and CPF seized more than R100 000 in drugs during
a raid on a Parow building.
The drugs included 30 grams of rock cocaine, 290 grams of
tik, 62.5 Mandrax tablets, five parcels of dagga and five bankies of dagga.
This was the third bust in August where drugs were
confiscated at the old Home Affairs building in King Edward Street.
The drugs
were booked in at Parow Police Station as found abandoned.
The other two raids occurred earlier on Tuesday 7 August
when officers searched the premises with K9s and found four Mandrax tablets,
three bankies containing tik and 19 dagga cigarettes.
On Wednesday 8 August, officers searched the premises again
with the K9s and found 11 packets of tik, eight Mandrax tablets, three half
Mandrax tablets and one quarter tablet. All the drugs were booked in at Parow
Police Station as found abandoned.
Councillor Walker says more operations like this will take
place in the future.
“We will take action to restore public safety and to restore
the trust of Parow residents.”
What is your opinion on this article? Let us know at
briewe@tygerburger.co.za.
