WEAPONS, DAGGA SEIZED AT SCHOOL

Was it a principal's hunch? If it was, it paid off. Police raided a
Pietermaritzburg school and left with one unlicensed firearm, four 9mm
rounds of ammunition, one knife and 2kgs of dagga.

While the school declined to comment on Thursday's raid, police said the
joint operation by the Sector Policing Unit, Copesville Special Task Team
and the SAPS Dog Unit at the Copesville Secondary School was at the request
of the school principal.

Spokesman Sgt Sumay van Zyl said an intensive search was conducted by
police officials, who seized the weapons.

"Carrying of dangerous weapons and drugs to school constitutes a serious
crime, and the SAPS cautions and warns all pupils that criminal charges
will be laid against them should they be found in possession of such
weapons and/or drugs," Van Zyl warned.

The SAPS, he said, will continue regular checks at schools to ensure that
pupils do not contravene the law in this way.

The provincial education department's head of school governance, Mike
Lotter, has welcomed the raid. The police, he said, were fully entitled to
search schools for dangerous weapons or for banned substances. The
principal has the right to call in the police.

"The regulations are very clear. We will not tolerate this kind of
behaviour by anyone at our schools. Safety and security is of paramount
importance at our institutions," Lotter said.

KwaZulu-Natal Education Minister Ina Cronje is concerned about the spate of
criminal incidents at provincial schools. She said the department was
looking at a radical plan which could see the police adopting schools in
its areas.

Cronje said drug abuse was becoming rife and that drug dealers were
recruiting pupils as peddlers.

She said the department was looking at joining forces with safety and
security department where schools could be adopted by the police.