Namibia faces surge in organised crime

THE face of crime in Namibia is changing – shifting from being typically violent crime by individuals to an upsurge in transnational organised crime.

The Police revealed yesterday that over the past year drug trafficking in particular had picked up. Although the Police said there had been a slight decrease in violent crimes during 2003, murder, rape and armed robbery continued to pose a serious threat to individuals.During 2003, 788 people were murdered – slightly more than 2002, when 768 people were killed.This figure ranks Namibia about seventh among countries with the highest murder rate per 100 000 people.South Africa is the African country with the highest murder rate, and second in the world.Addressing the business community and the media in Windhoek, Deputy Head of the Police Criminal Investigation Department Deputy Commissioner Gerson Naweseb said the Police had detected increasing amounts of drugs entering the country from its neighbours with cannabis, cocaine, heroin and in smaller amounts, mandrax being the main drugs.During the past three months, the Police have made two drug busts, confiscating cocaine and dagga with a collective street value of more than N$10 million.He said traffickers had formed cross-border syndicates – and had changed their tactics to increasingly using women as couriers.In general, Naweseb said, there appeared to be a lot of cross-border criminal co-operation to teach one another the art of committing successful crimes.More sexually-related crime was also reported last year with just over a 1 000 cases of rape reported to Women and Child Protection Units countrywide, compared to 814 the previous year.Police Spokesperson Deputy Commissioner Hophni Hamufungu said that the Police were making strides in curbing cross-border crime and meetings were held in South Africa last week to discuss trends in organised crime.Naweseb added that the Police had managed to crack down on motor vehicle theft and that the number of stolen vehicles had continued to decline from 2 895 in 2000 to 796 in 2001 and 478 in 2002, to last year’s figure of 351.But, he said, Namibia remained a transit point for stolen cars throughout the region.Naweseb said the Police were making daily arrests of people attempting to cross the South African and Angolan borders to sell stolen vehicles.However, returning the stolen vehicles to Namibia – especially from Angola – the Police say, is still a subject for much negotiation.Stock theft numbers, however, increased during the last year from 2 974 in 2002 to 3 201 in 2003.But reported housebreakings decreased by about 500 cases during the last year, from 8 508 in 2002.Police officers said it was difficult to say whether crime in general was on the increase in Namibia or whether statistics reflected a greater willingness on the part of the public to report crime and could mean an especially fruitful year for Police in detecting more incidents.During 2003, 85 650 incidents were reported to the Police countrywide, up from 83 375 in 2002.As many as 91 300 cases were resolved during 2002 (this includes cases reported during that time period and unresolved cases carried over from previous years), compared to 81 133 cleared the following year.Naweseb and Hamufungu said that the Namibian Police were faced with many frustrations in doing their job because of a limited budget, high public demand for service and not enough human and technical resources.”Policing cannot succeed unless those who are being policed are involved,” said Hamufungu, “the Police can only succeed if the public are on our side.”Added Naweseb, “Combating crime involves the public even if it means just reporting crime.Crime has far-reaching consequences for the economy, tourism, investment and the well-being of our own citizens.”Although the Police said there had been a slight decrease in violent crimes during 2003, murder, rape and armed robbery continued to pose a serious threat to individuals.During 2003, 788 people were murdered – slightly more than 2002, when 768 people were killed.This figure ranks Namibia about seventh among countries with the highest murder rate per 100 000 people.South Africa is the African country with the highest murder rate, and second in the world.Addressing the business community and the media in Windhoek, Deputy Head of the Police Criminal Investigation Department Deputy Commissioner Gerson Naweseb said the Police had detected increasing amounts of drugs entering the country from its neighbours with cannabis, cocaine, heroin and in smaller amounts, mandrax being the main drugs.During the past three months, the Police have made two drug busts, confiscating cocaine and dagga with a collective street value of more than N$10 million.He said traffickers had formed cross-border syndicates – and had changed their tactics to increasingly using women as couriers.In general, Naweseb said, there appeared to be a lot of cross-border criminal co-operation to teach one another the art of committing successful crimes.More sexually-related crime was also reported last year with just over a 1 000 cases of rape reported to Women and Child Protection Units countrywide, compared to 814 the previous year.Police Spokesperson Deputy Commissioner Hophni Hamufungu said that the Police were making strides in curbing cross-border crime and meetings were held in South Africa last week to discuss trends in organised crime.Naweseb added that the Police had managed to crack down on motor vehicle theft and that the number of stolen vehicles had continued to decline from 2 895 in 2000 to 796 in 2001 and 478 in 2002, to last year’s figure of 351.But, he said, Namibia remained a transit point for stolen cars throughout the region.Naweseb said the Police were making daily arrests of people attempting to cross the South African and Angolan borders to sell stolen vehicles.However, returning the stolen vehicles to Namibia – especially from Angola – the Police say, is still a subject for much negotiation.Stock theft numbers, however, increased during the last year from 2 974 in 2002 to 3 201 in 2003.But reported housebreakings decreased by about 500 cases during the last year, from 8 508 in 2002.Police officers said it was difficult to say whether crime in general was on the increase in Namibia or whether statistics reflected a greater willingness on the part of the public to report crime and could mean an especially fruitful year for Police in detecting more incidents.During 2003, 85 650 incidents were reported to the Police countrywide, up from 83 375 in 2002.As many as 91 300 cases were resolved during 2002 (this includes cases reported during that time period and unresolved cases carried over from previous years), compared to 81 133 cleared the following year.Naweseb and Hamufungu said that the Namibian Police were faced with many frustrations in doing their job because of a limited budget, high public demand for service and not enough human and technical resources.”Policing cannot succeed unless those who are being policed are involved,” said Hamufungu, “the Police can only succeed if the public are on our side.”Added Naweseb, “Combating crime involves the public even if it means just reporting crime.Crime has far-reaching consequences for the economy, tourism, investment and the well-being of our own citizens.”