Police to flush out Facebook, WhatsApp criminals
Sat, 22 Apr 2017 15:03:53 +0000
ZAMBIA Police is well equipped to flush out criminals hiding in the name of Facebook and WhatsApp to incite people to burn Government buildings across the country, Home Affairs Minister Steven Kampyongo has said.
And one person has been arrested in connection with Facebook calls aimed at putting Zambia on fire.
Police superintendent Davies Chimota disclosed this during the Minister’s tour of the Police Service headquarters yesterday that one person has already in custody in connection with Facebook postings.
He said police was working closely with international organisations that manage cyberspace in cracking down on criminals taking to social media to incite crime.
“Zambia Police service has invested in a modern cybercrime laboratory with hi-tech equipment that can trace mobile phone messages, call logs and WhatsApp messages which could have been deleted from those gadgets.
“I can announce here that we have since arrested one person in connection to the recent postings of inciting crimes through their posts,” he said.
He explained that the country’s police system was getting digital through various upgrades of the forensic department among them records keeping including finger prints, ballistics investigations and identification systems which should soon include facial identification devices to be acquired.
And Mr Kampyongo said unscrupulous characters had taken to internet to commit crime, but that there was no crime impermeable by the police.
“Unscrupulous characters have also taken advantage of this facility to commit crime, but to us as Zambia Police, we pursue criminals regardless of which shape or what type, and all these cybercrimes and all these internet related crime are going to be dealt with like any other crimes,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Kampyongo has appealed to the Zambian people to support the Police in ensuring security in the country, that “even as we have cowards trying to instill fear in our citizens by committing arson, citizens themselves should be the first to be alert and make sure they get in touch with the police,” he said.
