The Sowetan (Johannesburg)
Noxolo Kweza
10 July 2001
In recognition of International Small Arms Destruction Day, the South African Police Service (SAPS) yesterday destroyed tons of confiscated firearms and obsolete police guns valued at R6,8 million.
The destruction, the second since the beginning of the year, was carried out at Dunswart on the East Rand.
In January 102 tons of firearms, parts of firearms and firearm spares worth about R26,5 million were destroyed.
Yesterday about 13 815 guns were destroyed. Some of these were recovered during police crime prevention operations countrywide and others were obsolete SAPS guns.
Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi told journalists this was an ongoing process.
"A South African representative will speak at a conference on the illicit trade of small arms and light weapons at the United Nations headquarters in New York, and this procedure (destruction) was suitable for us to be seen to be cooperating with what's going on in the world," he said.
Meanwhile, an agreement was signed yesterday between South Africa and Norway to destroy 11 057 illegal firearms, 73 814 official firearms and more than 8 265 000 rounds of ammunition. The cost of the exercise is about R3,2 million.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2001 The Sowetan. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
