260. Mozambicans’ declining confidence in the ability of the police to protect the public against crime and the weakness, as well as slowness, of the law in dealing with people accused of crimes have led to people taking the law into their own hands and lynching suspects or people apprehended during the perpetration of crimes. In 2006, 17 people were reportedly lynched for committing crimes. This number increased to 31 in 2007 while, by the first quarter of 2008, 19 people had already been lynched. In the period covered by this report, a number of lynch victims were saved by the police. 261. The nature of the robberies suggests that sophisticated gangs, often with subregional or international links, are at work. Among items reported as stolen are electrical and communications equipment, railway tracks, overhead and underground copper and aluminium cables, fuses, metallic parts of pylons and fibre-optic cables installed by the state telecommunications company, TDM. In 2007, the ports and railways parastatal authority, CFM, alone lost materials costing over 82.7 million meticais (about US$3.4 million). 262. The free circulation of small arms in Mozambique aids crime and violent conflict. Both the war of independence and the civil war led to the free circulation of arms, and liberation wars in the neighbouring countries of South Africa and Zimbabwe added to the problem. The government is conscious of the menace that this constitutes to human, national and even regional security, and has been collaborating with the UNDP to address the problem. In 2006, the UNDP conducted a baseline study to formulate a strategy for control intervention. In 2008, the UNDP, with the support of the Netherlands government, commenced technical assistance to the Mozambican government by means of a supply of vehicles, computers and radios for controlling the circulation of free arms. 263. Mozambique, with its porous coastline of about 2 470 km, is vulnerable to penetration by drug cartels, gun-running gangs and fishing vessels engaged in unauthorised fishing in the country’s territorial waters. Foreign fishing fleets have been able to act freely in the country’s territorial waters because of the small size and limited capability of its navy. However, in 2007, Mozambique’s naval fleet capability was enhanced by obtaining three patrol boats from the United States of America (USA) and reinforced by the cooperative arrangements between Mozambique and South Africa under the South AfricaMozambique Joint Permanent Commission on Defence and Security (JPCDS). This renewed attention to the security of the coastline is important due to the consequences of piracy off the coast of Somalia and the enhanced traffic diverted towards Mozambique’s coastline. 264. Although the CSAR suggests that illegal immigrants are perceived to be involved in criminal activities that have led to violent incidents in Maputo and Nampula, reactions to the presence of immigrants are generally positive. Most Mozambicans with whom the CRM interacted welcomed the presence of immigrants. 106 A P R M COU N T RY R EV IEW R EP ORT NO. 11