“The dumping site is an industry and so many things happen there. Copper will be stolen and melted there so you can’t separate what’s happening outside and inside.
“It would be dangerous to take big cables and melt them there and people will make noise. People do it in the evening. There is a turf war.
“Even the people killed were also involved in the crime happening at the dumping site,” Mawela said.
Mawela and other senior members of the SAPS kicked off their raid at an informal settlement on the border of Pimville and Orlando.
During the operation, they searched residents and urged them to wear their masks.
Police arrested 27 undocumented foreigners, found two stolen vehicles, seven car engines and confiscated several weapons.
They also found a stolen train track from the Nancefield station inside a shack at the Ekuphumleni informal settlement.
“I believe we’ve asserted the authority of the state and those who believed they were going to wage lawlessness in the area must think again.
“The law is here, we're alive and are here to assert the authority of the state.
“The district commissioner and commanders have been instructed to continue with these raids because the provincial commissioner can’t be everywhere.
“Now that we’ve identified this place as a problem area, they must ensure law and order,” Mawela said.
Ward 18 councillor Juwairiya Kaldine said Lapland had been a problem for the past 15 years.
“They are stealing swings and drain covers and take it to Lapland. We don’t know if there are South Africans living there but we know these people are armed,” she said.
Lapland and Golden Highway murders linked, says Gauteng commissioner
Image: Fani Mahuntsi
Gauteng police commissioner Lt-Gen Elias Mawela says what happens at the Lapland dumping site cannot be separated from the killings that occurred along the Golden Highway.
Mawela was responding to questions on whether the killing of 10 people, including five security guards gunned down at the Goudkoppies landfill site, were related and if so, whether they were linked to the recycling business in the area.
He was taking part in raids with other officers as part of operation O Kae Molao in Eldorado Park, Kliptown and Pimville, Soweto on Thursday.
On Wednesday, five bodies were found next to the busy Golden Highway in Freedom Park. The bodies of the security guards were discovered last week.
So far, no arrests have been made.
Five bodies found next to busy road
'Our children’s cries of hunger are forcing us to violate lockdown rules': informal settlement residents
“The dumping site is an industry and so many things happen there. Copper will be stolen and melted there so you can’t separate what’s happening outside and inside.
“It would be dangerous to take big cables and melt them there and people will make noise. People do it in the evening. There is a turf war.
“Even the people killed were also involved in the crime happening at the dumping site,” Mawela said.
Mawela and other senior members of the SAPS kicked off their raid at an informal settlement on the border of Pimville and Orlando.
During the operation, they searched residents and urged them to wear their masks.
Police arrested 27 undocumented foreigners, found two stolen vehicles, seven car engines and confiscated several weapons.
They also found a stolen train track from the Nancefield station inside a shack at the Ekuphumleni informal settlement.
“I believe we’ve asserted the authority of the state and those who believed they were going to wage lawlessness in the area must think again.
“The law is here, we're alive and are here to assert the authority of the state.
“The district commissioner and commanders have been instructed to continue with these raids because the provincial commissioner can’t be everywhere.
“Now that we’ve identified this place as a problem area, they must ensure law and order,” Mawela said.
Ward 18 councillor Juwairiya Kaldine said Lapland had been a problem for the past 15 years.
“They are stealing swings and drain covers and take it to Lapland. We don’t know if there are South Africans living there but we know these people are armed,” she said.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Related articles
Latest Videos