EDITORIAL:Yes, criminals must be defeated

 

THE Police Force in Katavi Region has reported that its on-going campaign against poachers has frightened the hardcore criminals into surrendering their guns and fleeing.

One poacher passed his gun to his wife instructing her to take it to the village chairman. The woman did what she was told. She gave the homemade ‘gobore’ to the village chairman at Kaderema. 

 

But her man has gone into hiding. Another notorious poacher, a resident of Mtakuja Village, has vowed to refrain from wildlife. He said so as he surrendered his gobore to the village chairman in Mtajuka Village.

Well, this sounds surreal. It sounds like a story in a fiction book. But it is happening. Katavi Regional Police Commander Damas Kayanda says that already four Sub-machine guns, 15 rounds of ammunition and a further two homemade guns have been seized and that three poachers have been apprehended.

He has also reported that unknown suspects surrendered a sub-machine gun with Serial Number 1953 MM 3468 by simply abandoning it in front of the house of the Kamsisi Village Chairman in Mlele District. Another suspect ditched his submachine gun with Serial Number 0957b in Utende village.

It is rather incredible that hardcore criminals should surrender their prized guns. The main reason must be the stark reality that some of them now feel badly cornered. But this is the tip of the iceberg.

This country is teeming with armed criminals. Armed poachers and robbers are busy scheming crazy money-making banditry forays. But their days are numbered. The Police Force and other security agents, are hot on their heels.

What shocks this nation is what appears to be a large number of illegal firearms in highly dangerous hands. These include smart AK47s, machineguns and pistols.

It is outrageous to realize that some of the guns brandished by robbers come from military arsenals. Some guns seem to have been stolen from neighbouring countries where violence prevails.

What the Police Force should do is mobilize good samaritans to show State agents where illegal gun holders are located and, if possible, where they hide their arms. Bandits and other gun totters live in homes where it is difficult to hide their activities.

The State will be surprised by the scale of campaign success if it ropes in peace-loving members of the society in this initiative. The wananchi know most of the hardcore criminals and some of their secret banditry exploits because they live in their midst.

This social evil, it seems, has become an incurable cancer in this country. The saddest part of this unfortunate scenario is that not only do these psychopaths deprive their victims of their hard-earned prosperity; they also maim or kill people.

 Source http://dailynews.co.tz/index.php