Cape Town boosts security after taxi shootings
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on SABC News
South African police are stepping up security at Cape Town taxi ranks after a series of transport-related shootings. National forces, municipal services and traffic police are coordinating their operations from an operations centre in Parow, with several taxis seized, SABC News reports.
South African police are stepping up security at several taxi ranks in Cape Town after a series of shootings linked to the sector. Dozens of taxis have been impounded since Friday evening, police spokesperson Novela Potelwa said, according to SABC News.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) and the City of Cape Town’s security services assessed their operations on Friday at the Parow joint public safety operations centre. The centre broadcasts live images from cameras installed in areas considered sensitive to guide interventions.
Three suspects were arrested and four firearms seized on Friday evening by the Mfuleni crime prevention unit. The arrests followed the attack on a taxi driver and his female passenger in a residential neighbourhood: the driver died of his injuries and the woman was taken to hospital, according to Novela Potelwa.
These measures follow the three taxi drivers killed in shootings in Cape Town, announced on 29 October, and the referral to the South African courts after shootings between taxis, also published on 29 October.
