Dear Editor,
As it is well-known, the Addis Ababa Police Commission has been and still is diligent in executing its responsibilities of protecting the peace and security of our rapidly progressing city. At this particular time our police force is working around the clock to fully discharge its duties and responsibilities in line with the unfolding nation-wide reform process and the spirit of public service.
Just in the past nine months, our police officers, in cooperation with the National Intelligence and Security Service and other members of the security apparatus, have carried out a number of successful operations to curb the growing illegal arms trafficking problem in our city. In this regard, some 10,766 illegal arms of various kind and 118,759 ammunitions were seized together with a number of suspected traffickers. These joint operations were also able to put a dent on another damaging problem— the illegal transfer of money, mainly foreign currency. Accordingly, in the past nine months, among others, suspects in illegal possession of USD 181,379 EUR 9930, GBP 12,620 and over one million in Ethiopian birr were placed in custody.
Dear editor, I am sure it is not lost on any one that the extent of the damages these illegal activities would have caused to our city.
On the other hand, through our community-based policing activities, we have not only seen a significant improvement in the participation of the public in the overall security architecture of the city, but we also recorded a 19 percent decline in the overall crime rate in the reported period.
It is also needless to underscore the importance that we place on the security cooperation we have forged with the international and continental organizations based in the capital over the years.
Notwithstanding their wisdom to employ the services of competent security personnel possessing the professional ability to defend the organizations from any criminal activities, the Addis Ababa Police Commission is also ready to assist the diplomatic community with beefing up security, based on such requests, apart from working to secure the whole city. It is from this perspective that we view our security cooperation with the African Union and the Namibian Embassy, both based in Addis Ababa.
In this regard, based on a report filed by a member of the Namibian diplomatic mission to Ethiopia, a couple of weeks ago, alleging an act of robbery, which took place around 3:00 PM in the morning on a Saturday as the diplomat was returning home from a night of entertainment in the town, in which one mobile phone and a laptop computer is taken, the city police force were able to responded to the calls swiftly and apprehend one suspect on the spot.
Nevertheless, having read a news report regarding the above incident in your newspaper’s last week edition, we have come to learn that some of factual citations therein were not only erroneous, but also cast the city’s police force in an unfavorable light. Hence, we hereby like to set the records straight that it was not 10 armed robbers that broke into the embassy grounds as was claimed on the news report. The incident unfolded just as described in the previous paragraph and the lone suspect apprehended on the scene is still under police investigation.
Regards
Commander Fassika Mogesse
Director of Indoctrination and Public Relations