2008-04-18Staff Report 2 "By Anna Shilongo WINDHOEK The Deputy Commissioner of Prisons Services, Tuhafeni Hangula, says firearms and ammunition that were stolen from a prison depot in Krupp Street over the weekend are not as dangerous as reported in the media. He said Prison Services does not keep weapons at the depot unless they need repair. He confessed the stolen weapons were all out of order and were stored there for repair. ""Those weapons came from various prison units, because they were broken. They needed to be fixed. We do not keep weapons in the depot unless out of order,"" he said. Asked why there were no security guards at the prison offices, Hangula said the offices were never guarded before. ""It is just unfortunate that the thieves targeted our depot, but we never had guards at the depot, "" explained the Deputy Commissioner. Despite the weapons being out of order, they were kept in a strong room. Apart from firearms, the suspects also made off with a hard-drive which contained logistic information for Prisons Services. Although the burglary seemed to be an inside job, Hangula said the authorities had no idea about who could have been behind it. Meanwhile, in another incident a forty-year-old security guard narrowly escaped death when three unknown suspects attacked him with a gun recently. The security guard was apparently attacked in a riverbed at Stop and Shop Supermarket in Wanaheda. Before robbing him of a 7.65mm pistol valued at N$1 000, the suspects allegedly shot and wounded the guard in the upper arm. The suspects apparently fled the scene when other security guards at Namica Supermarket rushed to their colleague's rescue. They started shooting at the suspects and during the shootout, the guards wounded one of the suspects. They followed the footprints of the suspects and noticed bloodstains on the ground but it appears the suspects boarded a vehicle. No arrests have been effected. In Katutura on Levitikus Street, at around 02h00 on Monday morning, three unknown suspects entered a sheeben at house No. 48/92 and held the owner at gunpoint. The suspects took a Jukebox machine and speakers before running away. No arrests have been made. " 2008-04-18Staff Report 2
