Tag: guns

Racial violence errupts in Swedish city

Sweden’s third largest city, Malmö, has descended into chaos as police respond to a huge rise in racism and tensions between ethnic groups, involving bombs, hand grenades and guns.

It follows a spate of clashes between different ethnic groups in Malmö, in what police describe as a worrying rise in racial tensions dating back over a decade. It highlights tensions within Sweden due to the rise in migrants from many different ethnic groups coming in from Europe and elsewhere.

The city also has a long history of anti-Semitic abuse.

Police were called to the troubled suburb of Kroksbäck in Malmö after residents reported hearing explosions on Wednesday night.

Emergency services discovered arrived to find several cars and a community center on fire. Two hand grenades were discovered near the fires. Seven people were arrested Thursday morning for criminal damage.

Two hand grenades were thrown towards an apartment block on the same road on June 20, but none of them exploded.

One person was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries after a shooting in the Söderkulla square in Malmö. Police are also investigating a separate shooting on Ramel’s street in the Rosengård area of Malmö on Monday morning.

Malmö has experienced growing violence in recent years. Some of its inner-city areas and suburbs have a reputation for gun and gang-related crimes as well as race-related violence between different immigrant groups.

Since the early 1970s, immigration to Sweden has been mostly due to refugee migration and family reunification from countries in the Middle East and Latin America.

In 2009, immigration reached its highest level since records began, with 102,280 people migrating to Sweden while the total population grew by 84,335. In Malmö, the ten largest groups of immigrants have arrived from: Iraq, Denmark, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lebanon, Iran, Poland, Turkey, Hungary and Romania.

Daniel Vesterhav, interim departmental head of Sweden’s crime statistics agency Brottsförebyggande Rådet, said public shoot-outs between criminal gangs have become increasingly common in the past decade. “We’re talking about easily offended individuals who, when they perceive themselves to be offended, take action to protect their honour.

“It could be a car deal that has gone awry, unpaid narcotics debts or something really trivial like someone spending too long talking to someone else’s girlfriend,” Vesterhav told TT newswire.

According to the National Council for Crime Prevention in 2012, 66 anti-Jewish hate crimes were reported in Malmö compared with just 31 in Stockholm, and figures showed an increase in anti-Semitic incidents over the last years with a total of 44 reports over 2010 and 2011 combined.

Source: Sputnik News

SA’s R140bn crime rip-off

South Africa spent R140 billion last year to prevent crime. But, if the latest crime statistics are anything to go by, citizens are not getting value for their money from either the police or security companies.

In the past financial year the government budgeted almost R70bn for the SAPS. That’s taxpayer’s money. But many South Africans don’t just rely on the police – they hire private security companies to protect their homes and businesses.

According to the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (Psira), South Africans spent just under R70bn last year with security companies.

On Friday, while releasing the country’s latest crime statistics, Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega pointed out that South Africa’s private security industry was the largest in the world.

Psira has 9 000 registered security companies and over 400 000 security guards on their accredited data base. That’s more people than the police and army combined.

Despite this, South Africans are being robbed when they are in their homes.

This involves some level of violence and happens even though many homes are equipped with hi-tech alarm systems and an armed response service.

According to the latest crime stats countrywide robberies at home went up in one year by 7.4 percent.

In KwaZulu-Natal they dipped slightly this year compared to last year.

Burglaries (when nobody is at home) have remained more or less static in the past decade.

Many businesses have also been robbed even though they employ security guards.

According to the latest crime statistics, in the past year robberies at businesses shot up by more than 10 percent countrywide. In KZN they went up by 15 percent. Over 10 years they went up from 382 cases to 2 707 – an increase of just over 700 percent.

Carjacking continues to be a problem even though most insurance companies insist that even medium-priced new vehicles be fitted with a tracking device.

In the past year, carjacking shot up by more than 12 percent countrywide. In KZN the situation was somewhat better. It fell by just under half a percent and over a 10-year period reflected a downward trend. However, 2 274 people were still put through the trauma of having their vehicles taken, often at gunpoint.

Overall, almost 57 000 vehicles were stolen in South Africa in the last reporting period. About 8 000 of these were taken in KZN.

Economists said taxpayers were not getting value for money from the state and private security companies. Chris Hart, Investment Solutions chief strategist and economist, said: “South African tax is said to be the highest burden in the world. If the country’s 6 to 7 million registered taxpayers are not receiving value for money then this is a big problem.”

He said money spent on security should be money well spent, but instead it was becoming “dead capital” in the economy.

“The police budgets are not being utilised efficiently; if we are spending more than R70bn and not seeing any results, then we have a lot to account for. It reduces growth and the high crime statistics reflect that we have a problem,” said Hart.

Money invested in security is also destroying the economy. The indirect costs incurred from spending billions on security and seeing no results are enormous.

Source: IOL

Police find stolen and unlicensed firearms

guns_ak47sAn intelligence driven joint operation by Pinetown Cluster and Pietermaritzburg Cluster Tactical Response Team members on Saturday, 30 November 20913 produced positive results. During their operations, four suspects aged 21 and 32 were arrested for possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition. The suspects are due to appear today, 2 December 2013 in the Mpumalanga Magistrate’s Court for possession of unlicensed firearm and ammunition.

It is alleged that three suspects were arrested while on their way from the funeral at Mophela area near Mpumalanga Township. Two pistols, a revolver and seven rounds of ammunition were seized from them. On a follow up information, the members proceeded to Mpumalanga Township where they found a fourth suspect in possession of an unlicensed pistol with two live rounds. He was also arrested and charged with possession of unlicensed firearm and ammunition. Two of the recovered firearms were reported stolen in Durban area during December 2003 and August 2013.  All recovered firearms will be sent for ballistic tests to determine whether they were used in any crime in the country. The suspects are due to appear in the Mpumalanga Magistrate’s Court today, Monday, 02 December 2013. – South African Police Service

 

Provincial commissioner of KwaZulu-Natal, Lt General Mmamonnye Ngobeni welcomed the arrest and the recovery of unlicensed firearms by the members. She appeals to the public to continue providing the police with any information about any criminal activities in their areas including illegal firearms. Anyone who wish to provide information can contact our crime stop number 08600 10111.

Northern Cape schools yield drugs and weapons

daggaPolice have seized dangerous weapons and dagga in nine schools in Galeshewe, Kimberley, Northern Cape police said on Wednesday.

Raids were conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday at the request of school principals and parents of pupils of various schools, Lieutenant Sergio Kock said.

“Classrooms, toilets, and storerooms on the school premises were searched… police confiscated several knives, pangas, broken mirrors, and other dangerous weapons,” he said in a statement.

Police also searched areas surrounding the schools where drugs were known to be sold.

“[We] confiscated 31 ‘fingers’ of dagga buried in a hole outside one of the mentioned houses. The dagga has a street value of approximately R3000.”

No arrests were made and pupils found in possession of dangerous weapons would face internal education department disciplinary processes. -sapa

Record gun sales on fears of Obama re-election

by Joel McDurmon

Star-Telegram.com (Ft. Worth) reports that fears of an Obama re-election are sustaining record high gun sales which began with the President’s first days in office:

Enthusiasts are stocking up on guns and ammunition, and some in the industry are wondering whether sales are spiking as they did after Democrat Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008.

That rush created a nationwide shortage.

“We’re at the top of the roller coaster and we’re about to plummet down the side,” said DeWayne Irwin, owner of the Cheaper Than Dirt gun store in north Fort Worth, which set a sales record for the month of February. “It’s fixing to happen again. I don’t know if it will be to the same extent it was before, but I see it coming.

“Look who the Republicans are trying to put against Obama,” he said. “It’s the Keystone Kops and people are getting scared. People are terrified he’s going to get re-elected and then he won’t care about getting votes next time. He’ll just pass whatever legislation he wants.”

Some say the uptick in sales at gun stores could also be linked to anything from the arrival of tax refunds to a spending spree by fans of the National Geographic Channel’s Doomsday Preppers show, which chronicles people preparing for the end of the world.

Nationwide, more people than ever are buying firearms.

Last year, the FBI received more than 16.3 million inquiries from people running criminal background checks on potential gun buyers. That’s up from 12.7 million in 2008 and 11.4 million in 2007, FBI records show.

One website, Ammo.net, has called Obama “the greatest gun salesman in America.”