- Only 7 firearms surrendered during the same campaign last year
- Police urge people to come forward in the remaining five days
- Say the idea is to avoid such weapons being used to commit crimes
SESUPO RANTSIMAKO
The African Amnesty (AA) Month Campaign that encourages members of the public to surrender unlicensed firearms and ammunition seems to have prompted no interest because no one has surrendered the affected weapons so far.
As a way of observing the AA Month, creating safe environment and fostering a sense of security, the Botswana Police Service (BPS) recently issued a press release encouraging members of the public to surrender unlicensed firearms or those firearms suspected to be unlicensed without fear of punishment.
No consequences
However, with only five days before the campaign comes to an end on 30 October, BPS is yet to receive any surrendered firearms and ammunition.
This raising concern about whether the campaign will reach its intended mandate. It is reminiscent of the AA campaign last year during which only seven unlicensed firearms were surrendered by members of the public.
Reached for comment, BPS Senior Superintendent Victor Sebitla commented: “For now we have not received any firearms. Maybe when we compile our report after the campaign, some members of the public will have surrendered some.”
Smuggled into the country
He urged members of the public to surrender unlicensed firearms because they will suffer no consequences for the reason that this is an amnesty.
“The campaign is meant to remove unlicensed firearms from society and to avoid such weapons being used to commit crimes,” Senior Superintendent Sebitla emphasised. “Once the firearms are surrendered, we check where and when they were licensed.
“We usually establish that such firearms entered the country illegally. We want them surrendered to us to avoid them being used to commit crimes.”