Firearms handed to police for destruction used
instead for crime - Gun Free SA
Alan
Storey
04
June 2014
Organisation calls for investigation into diversion
of weapons handed in during 2010 amnesty
GUN FREE SOUTH
AFRICA CONDEMNS ARMS SCANDAL IN WHICH CORRUPT POLICEMEN ALLEGEDLY SUPPLY ARMS
AND AMMUNITION HANDED IN DURING AMNESTY TO CRIMINALS
Background to
Media Statement: On Thursday, 22 May 2014 police raided the
Norwood home of Emma and Mark Shmukler-Tishko, seizing an arms cache that
included R1 rifles, R4 rifles, R5 rifles, AK-47 rifles and approximately 300
handguns. During the couple's court appearance yesterday (3 June 2014),
prosecutor Talita Louw revealed that some of the firearms in the cache had been
handed in to the police for destruction during a national firearms amnesty in
2010, but rather than being destroyed these guns were stolen and sold to
criminals allegedly by corrupt police officials (see report in The Times).
Gun Free South
Africa condemns in the strongest possible terms the alleged theft by corrupt
police officials of guns handed in for destruction. We call for a complete
investigation into how firearms handed in by the public during the 2010
national firearms amnesty have been found in an arms cache discovered in
Norwood last month; for every person found guilty of involvement to face the
full might of the law as a warning to others; and for every oversight body
responsible for monitoring policing in South Africa, including police
management, parliament and the Civilian Secretariat of Police, to ensure that
systems aimed at safeguarding guns held by the police are implemented.
Internationally
and in South Africa there is recognition that one of the most effective ways to
reduce gun crime is to reduce the number of guns in circulation.
Says Alan
Storey, Gun Free South Africa's spokesperson:
When gun owners
handed their guns to the police during the 2010 national firearms amnesty, they
trusted the police to destroy these guns. The public played their part - they handed
their guns in to the police for destruction. By not destroying these guns, the
police failed the public and South Africa as a whole.
That some of
these guns have been found in an illegal arms cache makes a mockery of South
Africa's public commitment to safety and security by destroying stockpiles of
weapons.
Guns are a
robust commodity, which means that every single gun leaked by the police to
criminals can be used to commit crimes over and over again.
This latest
incident is not an isolated case; in 2012 a trunk full of weapons linked to
various crimes was stolen from the Mhluzi police station in Middelburg; in 2013
an oversight visit by MPs to various police stations found that firearms asked
for could not be found; in 2014, seven firearms were stolen from the police
ballistics testing centre in Amanzimtoti despite a warning from KwaZulu-Natal
violence monitor Mary de Haas of lax security at the centre.
The theft of
guns by the police is a travesty because it completely undermines public
confidence that the police will destroy guns handed in for this purpose.
Gun Free South
Africa receives regular enquiries from gun owners wanting to hand in guns for
destruction but not trusting that the police will destroy them.
Under the
Firearms Control Act (2000) the only way to legally destroy a gun is to hand it
in to the police for destruction. While Gun Free South Africa has developed a
list of steps gun owners can take to ensure their guns are destroyed,
ultimately these steps depend on the gun owner keeping a paper trail, with no
actual proof that the gun handed in has been destroyed by the police.
The South
African Police Service has strict policies and procedures to safeguard guns in
police possession, which they clearly aren't implementing - and haven't done
for some time. It's imperative that police management and oversight bodies
immediately get involved and stop the rot.
How the police
handle this latest incident of gun theft allegedly by corrupt officials will
determine whether the public trust the police to destroy guns handed in in the
future.
Statement
issued by Alan Storey on behalf of Gun Free South Africa, June 4 2014
