Crime drops by 5 per cent

Crime dropped by 5 per cent this year compared to 2013, the Minister for Internal Security, Sheikh Musa Fazil Harelimana, announced yesterday. Addressing journalists in Kigali on the quarterly security situation, the minister largely attributed the decline to several awareness campaigns and the community policing. “We have registered significant improvement in public-police partnerships as far as crime prevention is concerned and this has played a key role over the last one year,” he said. Police commissioners take notes during the press conference. (Timothy Kisambira) Harelimana pointed out that there had been a significant decline in road accidents in recent months, mainly due to public road safety measures, including increased public awareness. Between August and September, this year, road accident death toll stood at 113 with 662 injuries, according to figures presented by CSP Celestin Twahirwa, the Police spokesperson. The figures, however, dropped between October and November with the number of deaths coming down to 74 (representing a 34 per cent reduction) while injuries stood at 511, representing a 22.8 per cent drop. Major crimes reported in the last quarter of 2014 include assault, drug abuse, burglary and defilement, said Twahirwa. (L-R) IGP Emmanuel K. Gasana, Internal Security minister, Sheikh Musa Fazil Harelimana and Fred Muvunyi, Chairperson of Rwanda Media Commission, during the press conference. (Timothy Kisambira) ‘Unfounded rumours’ The Inspector General of Police, Emmanuel Gasana, reiterated the Force’s commitment to fighting human trafficking, saying that several arrests had been made with three cases currently before the courts of law. He also dismissed as unfounded rumours allegations that some citizens were missing. “Our records indicate 50 cases of purported missing persons and we have since investigated each and every case and each of them has been accounted for. We found out that some people had either fled the country or joined negative forces,” he told journalists. He particularly cited cases of two people who had been reported missing but have since returned from their ‘travels’. A journalist asks a question during the press conference. (Timothy Kisambira) A case in point is that of Alexis Bakunzibake who had been reported missing twice before suddenly surfacing, and then Omar Leo Oustazi, who had traveled to Burundi and returned later, the IGP said. Among the high-profile cases reported recently include the one involving a businessman who allegedly connived with customs officials in evading taxes worth Rwf260 million, two cases of cocaine trafficking (valued at about Rwf300 million), and a fraud case at Tigo involving Rwf500 million, according to the police quarterly report.

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Crime drops by 5 per cent