A POLICE blitz aimed at smoking out an estimated 3 000 criminals believed to have gone into hiding after committing various offences ranging from rape, indecent assault and domestic violence has so far netted 514 suspects. Report by Feluna Nleya
National police spokesperson Superintendent Andrew Phiri told NewsDay yesterday that the nationwide blitz which started last month had so far netted 99 rape suspects, 262 domestic violence suspects and 53 others wanted for various violence-related matters.
“We have over 3 000 wanted persons for offences like rape of adults, juvenile rape, domestic violence and other sexual offences such as indecent assault,” said Phiri.
He said the operation — code-named Kurasa Hunhu Hwako — was being co-ordinated by the Zimbabwe Republic Police’s women network.
“The operation is mainly targeted at people on the wanted list. We had women police officers at roadblocks who were hunting for the wanted persons,” said Phiri.
Phiri urged the public to report cases of rape adding that many perpetrators were walking scot free because people would have failed to report.
About 2 405 children were reportedly raped between January and October this year.
