By: Natasha Archary
Almost 120 foreign nationals were arrested in Durban last week as police clamp down on crime in the inner city.
A total of 6 illegally hijacked buildings were raided and thousands of counterfeit Dollars, as well as ammunition, were seized.
Police were searching hijacked buildings for illegal firearms and undocumented foreign nationals, saying the raids were necessary to deal with the issue of buildings being illegally occupied.
As reported by eNCA, KZN Police Commissioner, Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi described Durban as a den for criminals.
“There are a couple of buildings that we have been busy with, and we discovered almost R4 million worth of fake US Dollars, drugs, and other illicit goods such as weapons and ammunition were seized.
The buildings were illegally occupied, electricity and water connections were illegally done and the municipality bills for these buildings have not been paid.”
Mkhwanazi said the issue of foreign nationals being linked to criminality persists because drugs and unlicensed weapons enter Durban via the harbour.
Hijacked buildings in the inner city is not an issue that’s isolated to Durban and last year City Power disconnected several hijacked buildings in the Johannesburg inner city.
One of the buildings that City Power has disconnected is a block of flats at 128 Betty Street, Jeepestown, which reportedly owes R14 million to the utility.
The cut-off operations have been halted, after angry residents of the building reportedly began attacking City Power officials and journalists.
Residents claim they are paying R3 000 a month in rent to people claiming to be the owners of the building.
The cut-off operation happened weeks after over 75 people died when a fire gutted a hijacked building in Marshalltown.
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