By Anita Dangazele
- South African police arrested 3,630 suspects across Free State, Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces between 29 June and 5 July 2026.
- Immigration offences accounted for 1,196 of those arrests, while Limpopo recorded only 15 arrests for murder, rape and robbery combined.
Police arrested more people this week for being undocumented than for murder, rape and robbery combined, in at least one province.
South African Police Service units, working with Home Affairs, Labour, and other government departments, arrested 3,630 suspects during Operation Shanela raids across Free State, Limpopo and Mpumalanga between 29 June and 5 July 2026.
Of those, 1,196 were arrested purely for immigration offences. That includes 531 people in Free State described as undocumented persons, 253 in Limpopo listed as illegal immigrants, and 412 in Mpumalanga arrested for contravention of the Immigration Act.
In Limpopo, where police published a full breakdown of charges, immigration arrests outnumbered violent crime arrests by some distance. Officers arrested 253 people over their immigration status, compared with 15 people for murder, attempted murder, rape and robbery combined.
Nationally, SAPS reported that immigration arrests made up about 14% of the 17,587 people arrested during Operation Shanela’s first week in June. This week’s combined figure across the three provinces is more than double that share.
The raids also targeted liquor, tobacco and scrap metal trade. In Free State, police carried out 1,044 compliance inspections on liquor premises, 559 visits to spaza shops and informal businesses, and 2,868 farm visits, seizing more than 15,000 litres of alcohol and 32 kilograms of suspected stolen copper cable.
Limpopo police also arrested 53 people for assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, 46 for common assault and 43 for driving under the influence. Some suspects have already appeared in Limpopo’s magistrate’s courts, while suspects arrested in Mpumalanga are due in court on Monday, 6 July 2026.
Pictured above: Police arrested 3,630 people across three provinces this week.
Image source: SAPS
