ROBBERIES INVOLVING ILLEGAL FIREARMS ON THE RISE

MBABANE - Have guns become toys in the Kingdom of Eswatini?

That is one question that begs for an answer following a string of robberies and shootings that have occurred across the country since the month of July. Worth noting is that in almost all the incidents, the attackers were in possession of illegal firearms. Among the string of such crimes are two robberies that were committed gunpoint in Nhlangano, where bakery  vehicles that had gone to deliver bread were robbed. The first incident happened at Entandweni Grocery and the latest at Matimatima Grocery both under Maseyisini Inkhundla. The suspects were said to have then ran towards the boundaries separating Eswatini and South Africa called Mashobeni.

In the past few weeks, the capital city has been in panic mode following reports of a suspected armed gang targeting motorists at red traffic lights in order to hijack them. The spate of such crimes was not officially reported to the police since no one was eventually hijacked but people were sharing their experiences on social media. As if that was not enough, eight Asian shops have been robbed with one attacked twice in a space of 20 days, all at gunpoint in different parts of the country. The money and property taken from all the eight robberies adds up to E90 000. Reports also state that there are illegally manufactured firearms that find their way into the hands of locals, who in turn use them to commit crimes including murder.
The illegal firearm carrying gang is said to be making use of welders, who are able to make the weapons.

Death

In another incident, a Shiselweni businessman was shot dead while in his place of business. There are also countless incidents that have been reported to the police where there were shootouts in dagga-related wars, mostly in the Hhohho Region. One of them took place at Nkomazi a month ago where police had to be called to intervene. The Royal Eswatini Police Service has also issued a warning about people who escaped prison and were reportedly armed to which begs the question where all the guns were sourced from. When the Chief Police Information and Communications Officer, Superintendent Phindile Vilakati, was called for a comment about the trend of robberies and killings that involved guns, she said as police they observed that the cases were escalating with each passing day despite that they were raising awareness.

She said with the festive season fast approaching, they had started raiding several places in search of the illegal firearms. She went on to plead with the nation to inform them should they know of anyone who has an illegal firearm. Vilakati went on to advise the nation to do follow-ups on people who frequented their communities especially when they were not known.

Identify

“They can take registration numbers if they are using cars or be able to identify their physical appearances should anything happen later, so that we can have a lead on what to look for,” she said. Vilakati added that the vigilance also had to apply to business owners, especially those who owned drinking places. Her advice was that they purchase metal detectors as a means of beefing up security at their places of business. “They should also have closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras so that in case anything happens, the police would have direction on their investigation,” added Vilakati.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: