BuaNews (Tshwane)
Zama Feni
30 August 2007
Cape Town — Police in Southern Africa have redoubled their efforts in dealing with cross-border crimes with specific focus on crimes that may impact negatively on preparations for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
This task which seeks to purge and protect South Africa, as well as countries on the Southern African Development Community region, from infiltration by criminal elements is spearheaded by the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation.
At the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster media briefing in Cape Town on Thursday, Minister Charles Nqakula said: "We will work to gather intelligence on what the potential crimes are, the profile of organised criminal elements and the kinds of crimes they will be more likely to get involved in."
National Intelligence Agency Director-General Barry Gilder said the challenges that South Africa faced with regard to crime was the same as other countries.
"We will have to learn from the experiences of countries, like Germany and others when it comes to safety measures to be applied during the World Cup tournament," said Mr Gilder.
Minister Nqakula announced that his department was strengthening a partnership between the organised crime investigators and the National Prosecuting Authority to ensure appropriate guidance of investigators and to improve conviction rates in this category.
The co-ordination helped to arrest four organized crime syndicate leaders and 61 runners, co-ordinated raids throughout the country, netted 217 suspects who dealt in precious metals while 101 suspects were arrested for drugs and 36 for vehicle theft.
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