Police, last week, started a major crackdown on cars with tinted windows across the country as a way of curbing crimes committed under the cover of tinted paper placed on windows of  vehicles.

The operation that started on Friday saw about 70 vehicles impounded for a few hours and later released after the police removed the tint papers.

Speaking to The New Times yesterday, the Traffic Police boss, Chief Supt. Vincent Sano said that although owning a tinted vehicle is not illegal, some people have used the tint for wrong reasons.

"This is an operation that follows a number of security meetings that resolved to have tint paper removed from all vehicles. We started with the top officials in the army and the police as way of sending the message to the entire public,” said Sano.

He added that; "Vehicles with tinted glasses have been used in armed robbery; some illegal meetings have been held in such vehicles while the people who threw grenades around town used tinted vehicles.”

The current traffic law does not prohibit an individual from tinting their vehicles and according to Sano; this is why there was no fine charged to all vehicles that were impounded.

"We actually realized that it’s normally the drivers not the owners of the vehicles that put on tints on the vehicles. We are starting a mass sensitization so that people can remove these tints without the intervention of the police,” Sano said.

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