Namibians surrender illegal weaponsNamibians have surrendered close to 450 firearms, 1 000 rounds of ammunition and more than 110 explosive devices since the police declared a three-month amnesty last month.
Last weekend, the police confirmed that since 18 August, members of the public had surrendered 443 rifles, handguns and shotguns.
A total of 1 070 rounds of ammunition were dropped off at police stations in the Khomas, Karas and Omusati regions.
The police again urged the public to surrender any illegal weapons and ammunition to the nearest police station before the amnesty expires on 18 November.
Illegal weapons have been a hot topic for more than a year and have led to several arrests and anonymous dumping of illegal weapons and ammunition.
Close to 13 000 rounds of ammunition, in addition to dozens of illegal firearms and military equipment and memorabilia, have been discovered on farms or dumped anonymously in several parts of the country this year.
“The government and the Ministry of Safety and Security are concerned about the proliferation of illegal firearms, ammunition and armaments discovered by the Namibian police force during our operations conducted nationwide,” Police Inspector-General Sebastian Ndeitunga said last month.
He said the discovery of illegal machine guns and war material, much of which dates back to pre-independence, is a “grave concern to the police and our government”.
He said the presence of dangerous weapons in the public domain poses a threat to the safety and security of citizens.
Ndeitunga said 560 illegal firearms had been confiscated between 2013 and 2015. He was not able to confirm the number of illegal weapons police have confiscated this year.
However, by May this year, five farmers had been arrested in connection with illegal firearms, ammunition and war memorabilia.
According to some sources, more arrests were made which were not reported.
In one case, the police confiscated 10 000 rounds of ammunition and in May.
In July, police in the Otjozondjupa Region found 2 220 rounds of R5 ammunition that had been dumped along the B1 road between Otavi and Otjiwarongo.