Illegal firearms remain a major driver of violent crime in the Western Cape, with police warning that weapons are entering communities through multiple channels, including unreturned licensed guns, cross-border smuggling and organised criminal networks.
According to Western Cape provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile, a significant number of illegal firearms originate from licensed weapons that were never handed back to the state after the owners died.
Patekile said thousands of firearms are effectively unaccounted for.
