NORTHERN PROVINCE

MUSANZE — Police in Musanze have intensified a crack down on idlers and town hooligans in an attempt to stamp out criminal activities.

In a recent major security swoop, over eighty people including children were rounded up and are currently being held at Kinigi police station.

Peter Hodari, the Regional Police Commander told The New Times that the operation targeted idleness, prostitutes and other criminals in order to put order in town by stopping cases of robbery and redundancy.

He said that those arrested were detained pending screening and investigations to identify criminals and idlers among them. Depending on the police findings, he said, some will be either deported to their areas of origin or prosecuted.

Hodari blamed social problems to lack of parental responsibility towards children coupled in big families due to a long culture of polygamy in the area among residents.

A social problem especially begging by children targeting tourists has been a big concern to the local authorities, where parents have been warned in different meetings to restrain their children from begging.

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