Police Minister Bheki Cele says 26 police officials were prosecuted for negligence or theft of firearms and ammunition in the country between the end of February this year and the beginning of March last year. Cele revealed this in a written reply to a Parliamentary question from Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Groenewald.
Five hundred and five (505) firearms and more than half a million (550 616) rounds of ammunition were reported lost in the same 2018/2019 financial year which ended in February this year. Apart from the 26 police officials who have been prosecuted for negligence or theft of firearms, Cele also revealed that 49 people were successfully prosecuted for the theft of SAPS firearms and ammunition in the same financial period.
The Minister says various measures have been put in place to combat the theft and loss of police firearms and ammunition. He says these measures include marking the fire-arms by bar-coding them, using unique SAPS emblems, profiling the guns and conducting a biannual inspection and certification of all police firearms.
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