Prisons become crime nerve centres
Pini Bothoko | Monday February 6, 2023 06:00
Recent events show that Botswana prisoners are masterminds of most crimes which happen outside prison walls.
Most robberies and cases of obtaining by false pretence just to mention but a few are said to be planned behind the bars. The police are of the view that there is a syndicate of prisoners and members of the public who are behind most crimes currently keeping the police busy.
Recently, the Mmegi team visited Molepolole police station commander, Superintendent Benedict Matlho concerning the escalating crime incidents in his policing area.
He admitted the area is not easy to police because it is so wide-stretched and has over the years seen a dramatic rise in criminal activities.
Matlho revealed that all offences in the Penal Code take place in Molepolole with some of them organised from inside state prisons.
He stated that his office has since established that most robbery and cases of obtaining by false pretences are organised in prison and implemented by criminals within the community.
“There is a syndicate of serving prisoners and criminals within the community behind most crimes occurring in my policing area and we have since established that most of these offences are organised within prison. We have been recording cases of fraudsters using the popular Orange Money service to trick people and investigations established that most of the calls were made in prisons,” he said.
Matlho said recently there have been spates of reports from Orange Botswana customers who were scammed. Narrating how criminals trick Orange subscribers, Matlho said the scammer will call subscribers and pretend to be calling from the mobile network operator.
He disclosed that the criminals convince customer that they have won money which is to be deposited into their Orange money account but they motive would be to steal money customers’ accounts.
“They would tell victim to transfer all of the money in their account to an alternate one in order to clear for more money to be deposited into the account. More subscribers continue to fall victims, they clear their accounts hoping to gain bigger amounts only to find out it was just a scam,” he said.
Matlho said prison officials are concerned about smuggling of drugs, weapons and mobile phones into prison. He said when the items are retrieved usually prison officials would have no idea how such items were smuggled.
Furthermore, he said prisoners use smuggled mobile phones to scam people and masquerade as Orange Botswana network operators. He said the prisoners use unregistered sim cards.
“Prisoners use the phones to communicate and organise armed robbery incidents and Cash-In-Transit heists with the help of criminals in the community. I am pleading with members of the public to refrain from this because prisons are rehabilitation centres. It is a concern that some people continue to smuggle prohibited stuff into jails whilst prisoners are sent to prison in order to be rehabilitated,” he said.
However, Matlho revealed that in responding to this scourge they are working hand in hand with prison officials in an effort to eliminate smuggling of prohibited articles. He further disclosed to have partnered with the community to fight crime through the establishment of cluster policing committees which are lead by Dikgosi in all villages in his area.
He stated that towards the end of last year Dikgosi held kgotla meetings to plead with the community to refrain from committing crime and also sensitise them about crime in general. “Towards the festive season Dikgosi had also engaged churches to gather in village kgotlas to pray for escalating crime in the area. Dikgosi were hopeful that their involvement will curb crime because criminals live with them in the same community and they know some of them. People should help us fight crime by reporting criminals in their communities,” he said.
Meanwhile, addressing the media last year December, the Minister of Defence and Security, Kagiso Mmusi said in recent years the Botswana Prison Service (BPS) experienced a surge in the influx of prohibited articles being smuggled into prison facilities. He stated that following this surge, in ensuring safety and security within prisons, the service established the strategic operational support units being rapid response teams, prison police unit and prison intelligence unit in 2022.