THREE ARRESTED FOR BRIBING POLICE

Three Mozambican citizens were arrested last week for attempting to bribe policemen, according to the spokesperson for the General Command of the police, Pedro Cossa.Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, during his weekly press briefing, Cossa said that one of those arrested, in the northern province of Nampula, had been trying to traffic nine illegal Asian immigrants.Stopped by members of the traffic police, he offered them 45,800 meticais (about 1,500 US dollars) to let the vehicle with the migrants continue its journey southwards.The two other cases involved motorists attempting to bribe traffic cops to overlook infringements of traffic regulations. In the more serious of these cases, in Maputo, the motorist offered a bribe of 20,000 meticais. In the second case, in Manica province, the bribe offered was the modest sum of 100 meticais. In both cases, the bribes were rejected and the motorists arrested.Cossa said that during the week 1,011 people had been detained. As usual, the great majority of these – 792 – were picked up for crossing the border illegally. Over the same period 127 Mozambicans were repatriated from South Africa.Cossa also said that there were 60 traffic accidents over the week 16 - 22 April, which also resulted in 43 deaths, 39 serious injuries and 82 minor injuries.The accidents were caused by excessive speed, dangerous overtaking, pulling out in front of other cars and the careless crossing of roads by pedestrians.The Easter week is a peak period for travelling on roads, with increased local traffic being joined by tourists travelling by road from South Africa. Cossa’s figures did not include the weekend of Easter Sunday itself – it is feared that when these figures are available will show further carnage on the roads.Cossa said that over the week the police stopped 15,316 vehicles, arrested 27 people for illegal driving and seized 123 vehicles for various irregularities. 3,239 fines were imposed for various violations, and 387 driving licences were confiscated for speeding and drunk driving.