Hanover Park cops have nabbed 22 of the most wanted skollies and skelms for crimes ranging from assault to murder.
And they are calling on parents to start reporting skollies who are beating up young boys who refuse to join gangs in the area.
Philippi Police Station commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Dawood Laing, says cops have uncovered a shocking new trend where boys as young as 10 are forcibly given gang tjappies and threatened with death if they refuse.
He says child groupings which go by various names such as the Yogi Sips, Naughty Clowns, Quicksilvers, Vulture Kidz and Billabongs have become notorious in Hanover Park for their fights where they hurl bricks and other objects at their rivals to show their strength.
“This stone throwing has been going on for a while now and it is being used by the mainstream gangs to target and recruit children who they view as strong,” explains Laing.
“They normally go for children between 10 and 17 and teach them to shoot and so on because they face lesser penalties when they go to court.
BUSTED: 22 suspects at the Philippi Police Station on Thursday
“Recently we have been informed that the Mongrels and the Ghetto Kidz are targeting the boys who throw stones.
“They take them to a house and beat them up and threaten their lives if they refuse to take a tjappie. The boys give in because they are scared and then they are branded.”
He says parents have been too scared to open cases against the skollies and cops fear more children will be targeted over the summer holidays.
“We are calling on the parents to come forward and start opening cases so we can get the gangsters who are doing this,” says Laing.
“With the holidays coming up, we are very worried about the children and various programmes are being held to keep them busy and away from stone throwing.”
VAS: Suspects put in back of police van
During the early hours of Thursday morning, cops cracked down on well-known gang and drug houses and arrested 22 of the most wanted skollies and skelms in Hanover Park.
Laing says the 22 men, aged between 18 and 31, were arrested for crimes such as murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, theft, malicious damage to property and assault.
He says some suspects were wanted for more than one case, resulting in a total of 33 cases to be heard at Athlone Magistrates’ Court today.
“The remaining cases of assault and malicious damage to property is mostly related to domestic violence cases.”