Namibians now have an opportunity to surrender all arms, ammunition or armaments contravening the Arms and Ammunition Act of 1996.
According to a notification in the Government Gazette of August 25, Police Inspector General Sebastian Ndeitunga has called on all Namibians in possession of unlicensed or illegal firearms to surrender these.
Ndeitunga warned that for too long the country has been armed and that the process of obtaining firearms and other weapons such as knives in public was problematic.
He also acknowledged the prevalence of cross-border trafficking of illegal arms, resulting from the region having been mired in various conflicts not long ago.
This comes in the wake of a series of arrests of a number of farmers in the Otjozondjupa Region found in possession of unlicensed weapons and ammunition, resulting in a delegation of the NAU visiting the commanding structure of the police in June.
The country is estimated to be in possession of some 260000 firearms-12.6 arms per 100 persons making them the 51st highest ranked in number of firearms per population.
Source: New Era
