22 Jan 2019

Botswana Police Service has warned that looting vehicles involved in road accidents is an offence punishable by law.

Police have recorded a number of incidents where members of the public looted goods from trucks involved in road mishaps.

Senior Superintendent Near Bagali said in an interview that the emerging trend of people capitalising on others’ misfortunes was not only a violation of the law but also against the culture of Batswana.

Senior Superintendent Bagali said the looters did not even care for the lives of victims who might have sustained injuries in the accidents.

A case in point was that of a truck carrying alcoholic beverages which veered off the road on December 15 near Rainbow School circle in Gaborone.

And a swarm of looters descended on it taking a significant amount of alcohol worth thousands of Pula.

Though the incident was captured on social media, members of the public were reluctant to come forward to identify the looters despite the police having made an appeal to that effect.

Senior Superintendent Bagali said police were still working on the case and that the law would take its course once the culprits were apprehended.

“Their act is purely theft which is a crime punishable by law. Some of the goods looted are food stuff which may have been contaminated when falling and hence they could be harmful to humans when consumed and cause health complications,” he warned.

He said it was unfortunate that when such incidents happened, police were usually not on the scene and only responded to reports that they received.

Meanwhile, Senior Superintendent Bagali appealed to those who were involved in the looting of the Rainbow circle incident as well as others in various parts of the country to return the stolen goods to the police. Ends