Rwanda National Police

A man identified as Emmanuel Habyarimana has been arrested in Kigali in a crackdown on a group of people involved in car theft in the region in which some of the vehicles are sneaked into Rwanda where they are fraudulently given other documents.

 Other vehicles are said to be sold as spare parts.

Habyarimana is suspected to be involved in the theft and trafficking of five vehicles from DR Congo and Burundi and falsifying their legal documents.

The alleged theft came to light on April 4 when the suspect tried to secure documents for two of the alleged stolen cars.

 Police preliminary investigations indicate that Habyarimana, together with two other people still at large, stole two of the vehicles from an international NGO in Goma, DRC.

 According to investigations, the two people still on the run, under the coordination of Habyarimana, early this month brought two Toyota Hilux double cabin vehicles from DRC and managed to secure their entry cards at the border in Rubavu before bringing them to Habyarimana, on arrival in Kigali the vehicles were dismantled at Habyarimana's house where they were  turned into spare parts.

 However, Habyarimana forged their entry cards which he was using to declare two chassis numbers of the dismantled vehicles to acquire new proper documents, at the time of his arrest.

 "So far investigations have revealed that Habyarimana, after receiving the two vehicles he was trying to declare, he forged their entry cards to indicate that he had actually imported spare parts of the vehicles. When police investigated and secured papers from the border where the vehicle were registered on entry, it was found out that he had actually done some alterations to make it appear as if he had brought spare parts not vehicles," Chief Supt. Celestin Twahirwa, said.

 Police suspects that the man intended to use the chassis numbers of two vehicles to acquire new vehicle number plates which he would use on other vehicles.

 The chassis number is the vehicle identification number (VIN).

 Police is also still investigating circumstances under which the suspect sneaked in three other vehicles  parked at the residence and whose identification is not clear- two Congolese registered and one Burundian, he managed to secure Rwandan number plates for two of them.

 "There are several issues involved; there is an issue of  cross car theft, forgery of documents and attempt to evade taxes. But investigations are still ongoing to exhaust all angles to have a full dossier of his alleged cross-border criminal activities," he added.

 "This is in violation of articles 369, 610 and 614 of the penal code to evade taxes by forging and using counterfeit documents, which are impossible in Rwanda."

 CSP Twahirwa noted that there are several initiatives adopted to fight such cross-border crimes including cooperation with other law enforcement agencies in the region and internationally to crack down such organised rings.

 Rwanda National Police also extended the Interpol I-24/7 communication tool to all its border posts, which tracked smuggled or stolen goods or missing persons.

 At least ten vehicles stolen from neighbouring countries have been recovered in Rwanda and returned to owners since last year.

 All those recovered were either in transit or were trying to enter Rwanda for varied business reasons, from countries where they had been sold.

 RNP maintains that Rwanda can never be safe haven for criminals, destination or transit centre for stole equipment or goods.