More than 67,000 people were arrested in KwaZulu-Natal in less than three months for crimes ranging from murder and rape to drunk driving and public violence. Figures painting a picture of police successes in crime-fighting operations from March to date were released yesterday."We are always concerned with the levels of crime in KwaZulu-Natal. This is the second biggest province in terms of economy and population," said premier Senzo Mchunu."We are bound to absorb quite a lot of interest from potential criminals who may regard us a turf for whatever criminals go after."More than 45,740 of the arrests were for serious crimes, with 1,022 people arrested for murder; 778 for house robbery and vehicle hijacking; 1,093 for rape; 2877 for residential and business burglaries; and 8,742 for assault.More than 4,200 people were arrested for shoplifting; 3,067 for drunk driving; and 3,345 for theft.Provincial police commissioner Lt-Genl Mmamonnye Ngobeni said the arrests were made during raids and roadblocks, as well as visits to liquor outlets, second-hand shops and scrapyards in a series of police operations.With reference to the 13,367 arrests that were related to drugs, Mmamonnye said that drugs were a "serious challenge spread evenly throughout the province".She also said that 1,117 illegal firearms were recovered."We have recovered 932 pistols, 105 AK47 rifles, 43 shotguns and 37 homemade weapons."The AK47s are of great concern to us. Our crime intelligence unit is investigating how these rifles got to our province and even into our country."She said 2,506 illegal immigrants were arrested, adding that the breakdown of gender and nationality of all 67,212 suspects was not available. Transport, community safety and liaison MEC Willies Mchunu said the majority were South African...