Crime in South African cities has dropped considerably during the football World Cup, the South African daily Beeld reported Friday, dpa reported.
It said the number of reported crimes had fallen by 60 to 70 per cent in parts of Johannesburg, which has some 3.2 million inhabitants and is the country's largest city.
The newspaper quoted security experts as saying that the heavy police presence during the tournament, which began on June 11 and ends Sunday, had mainly caused a sharp decrease in home burglaries.
South African police spokesman Vishnu Naidoo confirmed an overall drop in crime during the World Cup, the paper said, but he declined to give details.