WATCH | Bheki Cele slams maskless residents in Covid-19 settlement after 400 arrests in four days

Police minister Bheki Cele and an entourage of officers walked 4km through a new Cape Town informal settlement called Covid-19 on Saturday evening.

Cele stopped residents who were not wearing masks and made them go home to fetch one.

Stop and searches took place on the main roads in the informal settlement.

Over the course of the weekend’s operations, 400 people were arrested, five illegal firearms were recovered and thousands of rands of drugs were confiscated.

“Since we are here in the past four days of operations, 400 people have been arrested and 36 of those are for outstanding serious cases, including murder and rape. Last night alone five illegal firearms with 2,000 bullets were found. Some have fake licenses and we are following all those things.

“We believe the impact of  extra police officers walking and entering houses and going into shebeens does help with a reduction in crime,” said Cele.

Earlier in the week, the minister unveiled 200 police officers who will tackle high crime rates in the Western Cape.

The officers are skilled in analytics, crime prevention and extortion rackets and will be deployed in the Western Cape for a set time.

TimesLIVE