No 2 district officer commanding, Senior Superintendent Paul Oketsang told The Monitor they would prioritise the fight against violent crimes currently keeping police on their toes to curb the escalating incidents in the area.
Oketsang gave an example of violent crimes such as unlawful wounding, murder, rape, and assault occasioning disclosing to be giving Serowe police a headache.
Oketsang disclosed to have established that mushrooming of shebeens fuel violent and serious crimes stating the need to be urgently tamed. He said these cases are worsened by alcohol intake as they usually occur at entertainment spots when people are intoxicated.
“We are declaring war on those who don’t comply.
We are not going to negotiate or compromise because murder cases are high in this area and mostly they start as fights at shebeens. The law will take its course. It is of great concern that people no longer value the sanctity of human life choosing to kill whenever it suits them,” Oketsang said.
He issued a warning signal to shebeen operators popularly known as ‘Bo MmaSpoto’ who continue to violate the agreed trading hours and in the process fuel crime incidents. Oketsang vowed not to hesitate to arrest offenders and shebeen operators who do not comply with the liquor trading hours.
He revealed that crimes are committed at these shebeens late at night after the stipulated operating time. The senior police officer said people are also mugged on their way from late night shebeens, raped to mention but a few ills that need their immediate attention.
“Last week, Serowe police with the help of a team of officers from North-Central Special Support Group (SSG) held an operation responding to this scourge at Dimajwe village. Last week, this team was in Serowe and managed to charge shebeen operators for failure to comply with the liquor trading hours and those that were operating without a trading licence,” he said.
Oketsang said they always record murder cases in which people die from knife stab (wounds) after they were involved in fights at the shebeens with most of the victims and perpetrators being the youth, especially men.
He added that the team also had a stop, question, and search operation and they reached out to a total of 82 people and out of that number, 38 people were found in possession of sharp objects. Oketsang further revealed that 14 shebeen operators were charged after they were found in possession of illicit goods (Chelsea cigarettes) suspected to have been smuggled into the country.
“A Sekao ward shebeen operator was slapped with three counts after she was found selling Chibuku which is only sold at the depot. She was also slapped with a noise and nuisance charge after she was found playing music loudly and on the third offence, she was charged with selling liquor beyond stipulated hours,” he said.
He added that the team also managed to arrest a wanted person for unlawfully wounding another while he was on the run after they pounced on him entertaining himself at a drinking hole.
“Six foreign men were arrested and charged with an offence of entering the country through ungazetted points of entry. We will continue with the operation amongst villagers in our policing area and also hold public outreach campaigns to sensitise members of the community about the dangers of operating shebeens,” Oketsang said.
