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Legal Asian-SA families detained with children, threatened by Sandton cops at gunpoint in 'raid on foreigners'. Sandton (Phone: SouthAfrica27011-7224200 --------------- Farmitracker has confirmed a report in the Sandton local newspaper about an incident on January 13 2012 in Marlboro Gardens, Sandton, when legal South African residents - including women and children, were threatened at gunpoint and some legal South Africans were even detained with their small children; and their property was damaged following a brutal police raid at gunpoint in which the police were ' searching for illegal immigrants" in Marlboro Gardens.
Sandton journalist David Jenkin interviewed families who live on Larkspur Avenue.
The families said that at 3.30am on 13 January, the residents of the property on Larkspur Avenue a"woke to banging as police officers kicked in their front gate"
Gun to wife's stomach:
" A tenant on the property who wished to be anonymous said, "They were knocking on the glass door with a gun. My wife opened it and they pressed a gun into her stomach, forced her inside and told her to shut up. They went to the children’s room and forced them into the lounge at gunpoint. We are all traumatised by this. We are scared to be in Joburg."
The family were allowed to fetch their documents proving their South African citizenship. However the SA-Asian Patel family, who rent the flat downstairs, were not given this opportunity and were detained in a holding cell with their two children aged eight and five who were put in a separate cell. They were released several hours later after their documents were approved.
The Patels did not want to open the door because they were fearful of police impersonators so officers cut through their security gate and lock to gain entry.
The landlady who resides on the property, Rashida Rashed, said, "I was very reluctant to let the police in, I wanted to see a warrant but they said ‘if you don’t open we’ll shoot the door down’." She said the officers later produced a warrant to search the property but they had no individual names listed. She said, "I want to know if the state is going to pay to fix the damage and whether it is legal to detain minors this way."
Family member Faheem Rashed said, "We said we’d cooperate, there was no need to damage our property."
Police raided several other properties in the area and detained about a dozen people at Bramley police station.
South African police spokesman Brigadier Lindela Mashigo claimed they had 'found some illegal immigrants in the operation."
SANDTON SAPS http://www.looklocal.co.za/looklocal/content/en/sandton/sandton-news-general?oid=4965776&sn=Detail&pid=217510&-They-had-no-right----family-threatened-at-gunpoint-during-police-raid