‘Over 2,000 firearms stolen from SAPS armouries in past 4 years’
The parliamentary response from Police Minister Fikile Mbalula has exposed the extent of firearm losses within the police service.
CAPE TOWN - More than 2,000 firearms have mysteriously gone missing from the police armouries over the past four years.
This has been revealed in a parliamentary reply from the police ministry to a Democratic Alliance (DA) enquiry.
The parliamentary response from Police Minister Fikile Mbalula has exposed the extent of firearm losses within the police service.
Some 2,027 weapons were stolen. From 2014 to 2015, 602 guns were lost.
The following year 630 firearms vanished and this past financial year 537 firearms were unaccounted for.
DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard says more stringent measures need to be implemented to curb firearm theft.
“About 4,000 Beretta pistols a few years ago cost around R18 million, and that sort of order is now made regularly to replace thousands of firearms disappearing from SA Police Service armouries.”
In August, it emerged firearms were stolen from two Cape Town police stations.
(Edited by Zamangwane Shange)
