At least 185 unregistered firearms have so far been voluntarily surrendered to the police following the recent amnesty granted by President Mnangagwa.
The exercise will also see the law enforcement agents conducting physical checks and verifications of guns and ammunition in the country amid concerns of rising crimes that are being committed with dangerous weapons.
Under the amnesty, those in possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition, or who have these with expired licences, must surrender them without questions being asked.
If they voluntarily surrendered them to the Zimbabwe Republic Police by the end of next month, they will face no charges, but thereafter those who will hang on to the illegal firearms will face the music.
In an interview, national police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed that a total of 185 guns had been surrendered.
“A total of 185 unregistered firearms have so far been surrendered to the police countrywide. However, we are still concerned about some people who are still in possession of guns belonging to their deceased relatives but do not want to surrender them.
“We would like to urge them to take advantage of this amnesty to surrender them during this period. Unregistered ammunition should also be surrendered,” he said.
Last week, Asst Comm Nyathi confirmed that they will soon be checking on their database, to track both those with licensed or unlicensed firearms.
He said through their database, they will check on addresses of all firearms owners before visiting to check whether people are complying with the law in terms of storage purposes so that the guns do not fall into the wrong hands.
The police suspect there are significant numbers of unlicensed weapons which were bought by businesses that have changed hands, that were owned by people who belonged to gun clubs and have given up the sport, or have been found among the effects of dead relatives.
— Herald
