Ethiopian Police today seized four weapon smugglers with 105 Russian-made Kalashnikov guns in Burayu at the out skirt of the capital, Addis Ababa.
The national intelligence and Oromia Region’s Burayu Police have collaborated to capture four people with the machine guns they were smuggling using Isuzu truck. The weapons were being transported from Gambella region to Addis Ababa via Assosa, according to the state broadcaster ETV Amharic language news report.
The report stated that after the smugglers realized that they have been followed by the security people, they changed their route and drove the truck carrying the weapons to Ambo town of Oromia, where they were finally captured.
Police report shows that contraband trade of goods including arms has been one of the major challenges Ethiopia has been facing over the past few years. To address this challenge the government has recently introduced a separate organ known as Ethiopian Customs Commission, under the Ministry of Revenue.
Over the past six months the Commission has managed to capture worth tens of millions of dollars contraband goods and weapons at different border posts. Commission has also drafted a new law that aims to properly deal with the movement of illegal weapons in Ethiopia. The law expected to be pass the parliament also details on how, who handles weapons legally.