Mozambique’s police detained two foreign businesspeople with an arms cache on Thursday, in Chimoio, capital of the central Mozambican province of Manica.
Police said the arms cache consists of 71 weapons of different types and calibre, rifle scopes and munitions, as well as bayonets and communications equipment, and were found at the residence of the two foreigners: Portuguese and Zimbabwean nationals.
Police spokesperson Mateus Mindú told the press that “there is work being done throughout Manica province, aimed at preventing cases of robbery using firearms. Once again, we urge society in general, who is the eye of the police, to be vigilant whenever they notice behaviour tending towards public disorder and insecurity, to address the authorities so that the police can do their job, which is to identify, neutralise and hold the offenders criminally responsible.”
Comment
Contrary to what is being said, sources tell Mozambique Insights that the arms cache consists mostly of hunting rifles, with just one M4 carbine and an AK-47 magazine, some pistols, swords, modern hunting bows and two-way radios.
Clearly, the two foreigners were either running a sophisticated gang of poachers or they were simply suppliers to the various safari parks strewn throughout the province.
Unfortunately, as police in Mozambique are wont to do, they advertised the accomplishment in the media rather than conducting a thorough investigation to find out the truth, such as ballistics test to determine whether they have been used in the commission of murder. This has the effect of warning their accomplices, who by now might have escaped, defeating the ends of justice.
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