Top Police Chief Sells Guns in Angola

The Commander-General of the National Police, Commissioner Ambrósio de Lemos Freire dos Santos, may soon become one of the largest private arms dealers in Sub-Saharan Africa. At stake is the importation of 95,000 arms from Brazil, including sub-machine guns, pistols, revolvers and riot control equipment destined for the National Police. The Commissioner’s company, R & AB, has been brokering the deal with the Brazilian manufacturer Taurus, since 2009. In August 2009, as an urgent need arose, Taurus sold 2,600 pistols to the Angolan National Police at a total price of US $825,000. However, R & AB overcharged the National Police for the consignment of the pistols, which included the models PT917 and PT909 (9mm calibre) handguns. Acting as Taurus’s representative for Southern Africa, R & AB presented the buyer, i.e. the Commander of the National Police, Commissioner Ambrósio de Lemos Freire dos Santos, with an invoice in the value of […]

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