Mozambican police call for popular cooperation in seizure of private arms caches

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Mozambican police call for popular cooperation in seizure of private arms caches

12:36 CAT | 06 Apr 2016

The seizure of unlicensed weapons is a growing reality in the city of Maputo, where the police have promised not to let up in their mission to repossess all war material that constitutes a threat to the general public, reports Notícias today.

According to the same source, this was the assurance given by Maputo police commander Bernardino Rafael at a meeting with residents of the Chamanculo neighbourhood he attended on Saturday, where he said he saw weapons in private hands as leading only to death, injury or disability.

“We pledge to continue to remove weapons from private hands. Anyone who has an illegal weapon should hand it over voluntarily, because if it is found by us they will be referred to the bar of justice to answer for its possession and use,” he said.

The commander urged the population to tell the police about any weapons they knew about.

“The city of Maputo should be weapon-free. Armed individuals steal, kill, injure and maim, so we do not want individuals carrying weapons.”

Commander Rafael said that police in the capital were also continuing to work to identify possible infiltration of their ranks, and appealed to the public to denounce police officers linked to criminal activities.

“The population should help us by reporting any individual who uses their police cover to commit crimes. Such people should be identified and expelled from the force. Internally, we are working on this, but we need the public’s help, which always proves decisive,” Rafael said.

Another feature of the balance sheet Rafael presented were the 1,444 illegal foreign citizens repatriated from the capital last year. Many foreigners, he explained, entered the country without a visa and had difficulty explaining why they were in Mozambique.

In the past year, the police opened 9,321 criminal cases, of which 7,551 were resolved. Police detained 7,353 citizens for various offenses, and smashed 283 gangs involved in armed robbery, the consumption and sale of drugs and robbery from shops and homes.

Overall police operability measured 84 percent, indicating that the force’s 2015 mandate had been fulfilled.

Source: Notícias