Legislation empowering police to respond more forcefully to dangerous criminals is close to finalisation, Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa said on Tuesday.

Consultation between Mthethwa and Justice Minister Jeff Radebe on the amendment to Section 49 of the Criminal Procedure Act had been completed.

"We have gone through the processes, it now has to be presented to Parliament," Mthethwa told the National Press Club in Pretoria.

"We must hasten to say that trigger-happy members of the police must not think that this is a licence to kill. It is a measure aimed specifically at serious violent crimes and dangerous criminals."

National police commissioner Bheki Cele said there was "no confusion" among his policemen that the new legislation was a call to be trigger-happy.

He however added that "the only language R5s understand is R5," he said referring to heavily-armed criminals.

He quipped that "these guys carry R5s and when they squeeze [the trigger] it does not produce photos".

Mthethwa said the amendment to Section 49 was meant "to zoom in" and take specific measures against a specific crime.

"We know the gangs roaming our streets and know the kind of misery and pain they cause in our society. These criminals sit and plan with military precision. These are our targets."

Mthethwa said Monday's shooting of six men at a foiled cash-in-transit heist in Kameeldrift outside Pretoria was not a "random and indiscriminate police shooting".

He said the police had received a warning that a cash van would be attacked and responded accordingly. The perpetrators were armed with automatic weapons, he said.

"The police intervened after the suspects opened fire... and their actions not only secured their lives but also the lives of the security personal accompanying the vehicle," Mthethwa said.

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