KARINO – A 50-year-old man was arrested for possession of an unlicensed firearm at the Karino Sasol filling station after a community member gave a tip-off to the MEC for community safety, security and liaison, Mr Vusi Shongwe.
Shongwe then immediately called the police who quickly went to the scene, arrested the man and confiscated the firearm which has been sent for ballistic testing to find out whether it had been used in any criminal activities.
The suspect will appear in court soon. The MEC thanked members of the community for assisting the police to arrest the suspect and also commended the police for their swift response.
“This is the kind of community participation against crime we are always talking about. We will eventually deal with crime if community members become part of crime prevention and fighting initiatives. The said rifle could have endangered innocent people’s lives.
We continue to encourage community members to report any form of crime or become informers to the police in order to conclude pending cases or apprehend wanted suspects. We also want to encourage those who have illegal firearms to surrender them to the police,” said Shongwe.
He added that most crimes were committed with stolen and illegal firearms, hence the need to confiscate all illegal firearms to reduce criminal activities.
Mpumalanga News has since reliably learnt that the rifle in question was an
AK-47 assault rifle.
