Cross-border police initiative sees destruction of more than 1,700 illegal weapons

More than 1700 firearms have been destroyed in a joint police initiative between South Africa and Lesotho.

The firearms were siezed during targeted operations in the Kingdom of Lesotho and transported to Gauteng for destruction as part of the African Union’s ‘silencing the guns’ objective.

The furnace melting pot at the destruction site in Gauteng has a temperature of 1648 degrees Celsius, hot enough to turn firearms into liquid.

There’s limited capacity for this in Lesotho, which relies on the South African Police Service (SAPS) to destroy firearms seized over the past year.

For South Africa, this mean strengthening a partnership to clamp down on cross-border crimes.

The firearms underwent testing to confirm their use in various crimes, before being transported into the country via INTERPOL.

Two months ago the saps destroyed almost 12 000 firearms, siezed locally.

In the past seven years, over 300 000 illegal guns entered the melting pot.