Temba police applaud community for blowing whistle on crime
Police say they are worried that firearms could end up in the hands of kids.
Temba police have encouraged Stinkwater, north of Tshwane community members to continue blowing the whistle on crime in the area.
Last month the community played a role in the recovery of an unlicensed AK-47 rifle, a revolver and live ammunition in that area.
The local police recovered another firearm and arrested a man and woman, aged 36 and 31 respectively, for its possession last week.
Temba police communication officer Sergeant Herman Moremi said the recent recoveries suggest that there are more unlicensed firearms in the area.
He said it is disturbing and scary to know that people are driving and walking around with firearms.
“Without the tip-offs, the police cannot act on the unlawful firearms,” he said.
“We need information from the community just to give us a tip-off because we can have an operation but without information, we won’t recover anything. We must act fast before someone is killed.”
Moremi said the police are worried that the firearms could end up in the hands of kids in the community and a lot could go wrong.
“As much as we are worried about the safety of the society, we are also concerned about the safety of our kids because if they come across any firearm they will use it to commit a crime or even sell it or go to school with it,” he said after a firearm was found in the bush.
He applauded the community for playing a huge role by informing the police about the AK-47 rifle.
“Just imagine if the suspects managed to transport it to a buyer – what would happen to innocent people? Maybe it was going to be used for a heist, ATM bombings and business robberies.”
Moremi said that it could even end up killing one of the police officers who might react to an active crime scene.
He said they’re still waiting for ballistic results to determine if the firearms were used to commit a crime.
“It will take time before they release the results because they must first check where the firearm comes from. If it comes from another country, they must check if a crime was committed with it there, then the report must cover all our questions about the firearm too,” he said.
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