COPS CRUSH 149 GUNS ON DESTRUCTION DAY

MATSAPHA – Senior police officers and the team that destroyed the firearms at the Police College yesterday. (L) The machine that was used to crush the firearms. (Pics: Sibusiso Zwane)

MANZINI – Day in and day out people are robbed at gunpoint while others are killed using illegal firearms and that has to come to an end.

Police have destroyed a total of 149 firearms and ammunition during the International Gun Destruction Day, which is globally marked on July 9, 2017 but this year the country commemorated it yesterday.
The guns and ammunition that were destroyed by the police yesterday included those which were illegal and kept as exhibits, unserviceable government firearms and those that belonged to individuals who no longer needed them.
The guns that were destroyed ranged from shotguns, submachine gun, rifles and pump action guns among others.

The International Gun Destruction Day was initiated by the United Nations in 2001 and it serves to remind the people about the threat that excess, poorly secured and illegal weapons pose to their everyday safety and security.
Deputy Police Information and Communications Officer Assistant Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said destroying gun stocks stops surplus guns leaking into the illegal market and because firearms do not expire and could be used many times to commit crimes.

“As the police service, we have noted with concern the use of illegal firearms in the country but we are happy to report that the number of guns destroyed today has decreased from that of last year,” Vilakati said.
She said this meant that the number of illegal firearms that fell into wrong hands was decreasing and that those belonging to government were well taken care of and serviced on time to avoid being destroyed.
Furthermore, Vilakati said the destruction of guns also helped in controlling the number of firearms a country should have.

Apart from the series of armed robberies where thieves rob people at gunpoint, firearms had been used to commit suicides and recently, taxi men are living in fear for their lives after some of their colleagues were kidnapped and shot dead in the process.

A recent gruesome incident of a taxi man took place in May where a well known Manzini taxi man, Anthony ‘S’khulu’ Dlamini, was shot four times by unknown people and his body was dumped at the entrance to Kai Kai Holiday Park. His car was discovered a day later after it was abandoned at a car wash at Matsamo in the Hhohho Region.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: