Woman to appear in court after drug bust during election deployment - IOL

Police in Cape Town have arrested a 38-year-old for drug-related offences. In another part of the city, police confiscated a firearm after receiving a tip-off.

A 36-year-old woman is expected to appear in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Friday on drug-related charges. 

Public Order Policing members arrested the woman on Wednesday while patrolling the Kensington area for the 2026 Local Government Elections. 

Police received information that drugs were being sold at a premises on Lugmag Laan, Factreton.

Lieutenant Colonel Frederick C van Wyk said the police followed up on the information and allegedly caught the woman with a Ziploc bag containing various drugs in her hand, which prompted an arrest. 

Police found 29 sachets of tik, four mandrax tablets, three half tablets of mandrax, and 23 sachets of cocaine in her possession.

In an unrelated case, van Wyk said the members of the Anti-Gang Unit conducted crime-combatting operations in Bellville South following ongoing gang-related shootings within the community. 

Police received a tip-off about a firearm that was allegedly concealed at a premises in Armanda Crescent. The premises were searched, and a Rossi .38 Special revolver was recovered and confiscated. 

Van Wyk said the gun was booked in as an exhibit for further forensic processing and investigation. The Bellville South SAPS have also opened an enquiry docket. 

In response to ongoing gang violence, Western Cape Minister of Police Oversight and Community Safety, Anroux Marais, said removing illegal weapons from the street is part of the police’s strategy to decrease gang violence. 

He made this statement after multiple gang-related shootings were reported in October 2026. Marais said gang members cannot continue shooting each other if the police remove firearms from their hands. 

He also urged community members to continue cooperating with the police and reporting illegal firearms to the police.

“We have seen repeatedly that information from communities can lead directly to the confiscation of illegal firearms and the arrest of suspects. This is why community cooperation is so important,” said Marais.

The Bellville South Community Police Forum has urged victims of gang-related violence to come forward and open cases against perpetrators. 

The call was made after a 27-year-old woman was caught in the crossfire of a gang-related shooting. According to reports, a suspect allegedly opened fire on a group of people standing by a street corner. 

The woman was shot in the process and later taken to a medical facility for further treatment. The organisation appealed to the public to contact police with any further information about the incident. 

Community members who have been shot at or threatened with a firearm, victims of a robbery, stabbing, online scams or any criminal activity are also urged to open cases and help rid the community of crime.