Maputo — Two Mozambican policemen have been arrested on charges of trafficking in ivory in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.
According to the spokesperson for the General Command of the Mozambican police, Pedro Cossa, cited in the Wednesday issue of the newssheet “CanalMoz”, one of them, named only as Chabane, is studying for a masters’ degree at the Mozambican police academy (ACIPOL).
The second man is a 55 year old sergeant, named Cipriano. Although the crime is alleged to have taken place in Cabo Delgado, the two men are currently being held at the Tchumene police station, in the southern city of Matola.
A third policeman, named Lourenco, is also under arrest in Matola for armed robbery. He is a member of the Presidential Guard, the police unit responsible for the security of the President of the Republic.
Detained with Lourenco were two 26 year old workers at a private security company, named as Fredy and Meneses.
“These people are in the wrong profession”, said Cossa. Of the policemen arrested, he noted, that, despite their positions of responsibility, they had deliberately become involved in criminal activities. “Their behavior is not that of the police force”, he declared.
Cossa said the police had never denied that among those it recruits there might be “dishonest people, people of dubious behavior”.
But he was convinced that when such people tried to continue committing crimes while in the police, they would soon be unmasked.