Government says it will swiftly respond towards addressing escalating criminal activities in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
Home Affairs deputy minister Misheck Bonshe says there was urgent need for police in the region to take action and stop the crime.
Mr. Bonshe said police officers must formulate strategies that would help governments in the SADC region to fight crime in a better and coordinated manner.
He was speaking today when he officially opened the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (SARPCCO) meeting at Chrismar hotel in Livingstone.
He said police must devise strategies of combating regional criminal syndicates, noting that this would reduce crime in the region.
He said members of the public needed to feel secure hence the need for the police to double their efforts in the fighting crime.
And speaking earlier, Inspector General of Police, Ephraim Mateyo, said his command would ensure that thieves in Zambia were not allowed to move freely.
Mr. Mateyo said the police have a duty to ensure that criminals were not going about conducting business.
He said the meeting was timely as it was important for the police in the region to plan together and map up strategies on how to fight crime.
He said it was only peaceful environments that would attract investor confidence in the region, thereby boosting economies of SADC countries.
”Let us not allow criminals to take over us. Let us try and suppress them. Our duty is to ensure that the rule of law prevails in our countries,” he said.
Head of Interpol at the SARPCCO secretariat, Villio Hifindaka, said it was important for the police to let criminals know that there would be no comfort for them in the SADC region.
ZANIS/FM/KSH/ENDS.
Which other SADC countries were represented here?
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