67-year-old man in court for contravention of the Firearm Control Act

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A sixty seven year old man is expected to appear before the Chief Albert Luthuli magistrate’s court in Mpumalanga on Friday.

This following his arrest for possession of unlicensed firearms with ammunition as well as for contravention of the Firearm Control Act.

According to police report, information was received by the law enforcement agencies regarding a firearms cache which were somehow stored by an old man inside a certain house at Elukwatini.

Spokesperson Colonel Donald Mdhluli confirmed that further details indicated that the man was in some way part of a certain security company but was suspected to be non-compliant.

“The team is said to have coordinated their resources to establish if he is compliant to the PSIRA regulations. As a result, the team paid him a visit at Elukwatini on Thursday afternoon.

“A search warrant was obtained and upon arrival at the premises as per information provided, the law enforcement agencies conducted a search.

“Members discovered a total of about 106 firearms as well as 1704 various assorted live rounds of ammunition. Amongst the weapons found in the house are 14 rifles, eight shot guns, 84 pistols with ammunition, 9mm pistols to a total of 718, about 921 live rounds of ammunition for a rifle, and 65 live rounds of ammunition for a shotgun.

“Firearms were not kept inside a safe but rather stored underneath a bed whilst some were kept inside the wardrobe,” he said.

Col Mdhluli stated that the astute members also discovered that licences for some of the firearms, which could be owned by a certain security company had already expired. The male suspect could not account for about 20 firearms.

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He continued; “In addition, the team members established that he did not have licences for four pistols, which had ammunition hence he was arrested and charged accordingly.

“Part of the probe is to determine how he got hold of these firearms. Police investigations continue. The firearms as well as the ammunition were confiscated for further investigation.”

Mdhluli added that the confiscated firearms will undergo ballistic testing to determine any linkages to crimes committed in the country.

At this stage, Police cannot rule out the possibility of adding more charges against the suspect as the investigation continues, in relation to contravention of the Firearms Control Act.