Amnesty Day: Police call for hand over of illegal weapons

Botswana Police Service urges members of the public who own illegal weapons or arms to surrender them to the police.Senior Superintendent Gosekwang Sebitla of the Central Arms Registry said in an interview with The Midweek Sun that next month there will be an Amnesty day to allow persons who may be in possession of illegal firearms the opportunity to surrender them to the State without fear of prosecution.The day is adopted from the Amnesty Protocol by SADC member states to collect all illegally-possessed weapons or arms from any ground or individual who has no authority to possess them.He said these firearms cause countless deaths, population displacement, destruction of infrastructure and economic downfall.The SADC Amnesty Protocol states that persons who voluntarily surrender illegal-owned weapons or arms during the month of September may not be subjected to disclosure humiliation, arrest or prosecution and those who shall be considered to be violating national law and the amnesty shall be prosecuted accordingly.Recently, Botswana Police destroyed some guns at a police college in Kanye as all SADC member states have reached consensus that illegal firearms, which are commonly used in the perpetration of crime should, be confiscated and destroyed as a means to combat level of instability and violence among citizens.According to Sebitla, Botswana therefore has also adopted a policy for the disposal of confiscated or unlicensed firearms that come into the possession of its authority. He noted that confiscated firearms are mostly those which have been used to commit crime such as illegal hunting of protected animals and robbery offences.“Some of the firearms have been voluntarily surrendered by the registered owners which are regarded as redundant and they pose danger in their usage and some have been found abandoned and are mostly unregistered and are treated as lost and found property,” Sebitla said.According to Sebitla, these firearms have been seized by different police stations who embarked on investigations and finally handed them to Central Arms Registry office for destruction.Sebitla noted that this year, they did not have any military weapon confiscated and a total of 338 firearms were destroyed, being five pellet guns, eight handguns, 98 rifles and 227 shotguns.Sebitla shared that the offence of unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition is contrary to section 9 (4) of the Arms and Ammunition Act No. 19 of 2018, which provides that upon conviction, the accused person is liable to a fine not exceeding P5000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to both.

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Amnesty Day: Police call for hand over of illegal weapons