Ntshawini becoming hot spot for illegal guns

Illegal firearms, murder and house robberies are the gravest problems facing residents of Ntshawini township outside Stanger.

This became clear after a man was shot and killed at Sofaya area on Monday morning and four men were found with four illegal firearms last month.

The men are believed to have been behind the business robbery in Sofaya section in Ntshawini where an undisclosed amount of money was taken.

In another incident, a 23-year-old man was shot 12 times at the Congo section, apparently in a dispute over drug dealing.

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“I can confirm that we do have a problem of illegal firearms in Ntshawini but we are working around the clock to resolve the issue. We have about 15 cases of house robberies and armed robbery reported per month and these robbers are usually armed with guns,” said KwaDukuza police spokesperson Constable Sibusiso Khuzwayo.

He said it is also possible that these criminals are not from Ntshawini, for instance, of the four men who were arrested last month some were from Mandeni.

“So it shows that there might be some person or people who are working with a group of thieves in the township, but as I said police are investigating the matter and we will crack it soon,” said Khuzwayo.

These fall among other cases of attempted murder or shooting incidents that might not be reported to the police.

A recent incident was when a father and his son were lucky to escape unharmed after a group of four men tried to shoot them.

This happened when the boy was robbed of his cell phone and his father went and approached the men. They gave back the cell phone and started shooting at the father and son.

A shootout started between the men and the father and two of the men were injured.

“Three of the men were charged with attempted murder and robbery and one firearm was recovered. So if these two men were not injured, the matter could not have been been reported to the police, which means there might be other similar incidents that happened and were not reported,” said Khuzwayo.

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