LODGE owner Brian Black has lashed out against the Police, who apparently took their time responding after he informed them of a break-in at the Airport Lodge outside Windhoek on Monday.
Two unidentified men apparently broke into the room of a tourist from Holland, destroying a glass-panelled door in the process.
Luckily for tourist Bartus Buitenhuis, the suspects fled the scene without his valuables after setting off an alarm in the room.
According to Black, a female employee responded to the alarm and upon entering the guest quarters, caught one of the two suspects red-handed in the room while another was holding the broken door open.
She apparently ran back to get help, but upon the employees’ return the suspects had disappeared.
‘What is more disgusting however is the continuous failure by our own Police force to respond in time despite various calls to various officials of the Police for assistance,’ Black told The Namibian.
He claimed that it took the Police more than five hours to arrive at the scene, while calls to officers at the nearby permanent Police roadblock between Windhoek and the Hosea Kutako airport also had no results.
‘I spoke to someone at the roadblock after getting the number from a former Police officer and asked them to be on the lookout for the suspects as she [the employee] described them. When I got to the roadblock more than 20 minutes later, they had not even been informed,’ Black said.
He said the owner of a neighbouring plot reported seeing a man matching one of the thieves’ description on the same day.
‘I have absolutely no doubt that had the Police come out earlier, at least that one suspect would have been caught,’ he said.
‘As a result of the ongoing attacks on vulnerable visitors to our country, the perception is now strong amongst visitors and even investors that nothing is being done, especially by Government, to deal with this man-made barrier,’ Black said.
He called on Government to do more in fighting crime and keeping the Police on their toes.
‘It is simply not good enough for Government to always sympathise with victims of crime after the event but on the ground the seriousness of Government’s commitment is not reflected,’ he said. – denver@namibian.com.na
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