It’s often easy to ridicule the South African Police Service (SAPS) for dropping the ball, but now and again they do manage to put together a decent investigative effort.

That’s certainly true when it comes to the uncovering of a massive underground weapons stash found on Friday at a house in Valhalla Park, with suspected members of the 28s gang arrested.

250 firearms, as well as ammunition, was found in an underground safe, with IOL detailing the arrest below:

Top police sources have linked the weapons to convicted former cop Christiaan Prinsloo, who admitted to stealing SAPS firearms and ammunition destined for destruction and supplying the weapons to criminals – “primarily members of gangs on the Cape Flats”.

OK, so not all good for the SAPS considering Prinsloo’s actions. On we go:

The sources say police acted on information from an informer outside Valhalla Park and knew exactly when and where to pounce. At 6am on Friday morning, police turned up at the scene…

Heavily armed police officers rushed into the “neat, three-bedroom house”, and found five persons inside, including the homeowner, 65, his son, 41, and their barber…

The police insider adds that suspects are linked to the notorious 28s prison gang…

During a search of the premises, metal detectors led cops to one of the bedrooms, where they used crowbars and pickaxes to break through the concrete floor.

Police unearthed three locked safes, and after breaking them open, found the large stash of police issue Z88 semi-automatic pistols.A woman, 29, who lives at the house, said they had no idea guns were hidden in the floor.

If you’re thinking the local community would been overjoyed to see the weapons (and suspected gang members) taken off the streets you’d be wrong, because the police were met with hostility:

People pelted cops with stones, who were forced to use stun grenades and teargas to disperse the crowd. [Captain FC] Van Wyk said a sixth suspect will be facing a charge of malicious damage to property after he was seen slashing police van’s tyres during the standoff.

Several police vans’ windows were also damaged, while a newspaper reporter’s car window was smashed.

Police sources say the violence broke out when certain suspects begged cops to arrest them and take them away because they feared for their lives after apparently piemping their accomplices.

Despite the community’s reaction police remain confident that they have apprehended the guilty parties, with information gathered from Prinsloo [pictured above] as part of his plea bargain ultimately leading to the raid.

250 or so less guns on the street, but you have to wonder how many other stashes there are.

[source:iol]