Maputo — The Mozambican police have apologized for arresting four people last week, two Mozambican citizens and two South Africans, who were allegedly in possession of 32 illegal shotguns.

According to a report in Monday's issue of the independent newssheet "Mediafax", the police apologized because they reached the conclusion that there was nothing illegal about the guns.

The General Commander of the Mozambican police himself, Bernadino Rafael, speaking at a police ceremony on Saturday in Matalane, on the outskirts of Maputo, admitted the mistake. He said that, in reality, the police had granted a licence for the import of the 32 shotguns.

Rafael said "We issue gun licences. When the guns enter the country, we want to compare them with the licence issued by the police, to check whether they are the same or not".

Despite the existence of a valid gun licence, a magistrate had validated the detention of the two men last Thursday. Rafael said that was simple to solve, since the same magistrate could re-assess his decision with the arrival of new data.

There had been a misunderstanding, he said, and so the police had apologized to the four men wrongfully arrested.

Gun licensing was a police matter, Rafael said, "and we should have handled the matter well, inside our institution. But sometimes emotions take over".

Rafael confirmed the version given by the suspects last week - that the guns were for hunting purposes, and all the necessary legal procedures had been followed.