Dundo – Angola’s Attorney General Hélder Pitta Gróz on Monday asked for a joint effort of the security agencies in Lunda-Norte province to fight immigration and illegal diamond mining.

The magistrate made this appeal at the end of his working visit to Angola’s eastern Lunda-Norte province.

At the occasion, he stressed that the rate of illegal immigration and the increase in diamond mining areas worry the Attorney General Office, because it jeopardizes the security and growth of the economy.

'The fight against these crimes should not be done in isolation, it should involve all defense and security forces and the population, as they are crimes that threaten our economy and the stability of the country', he stressed.

On fuel smuggling, Hélder Pitta Gróz said that Lunda-Norte does not have the levels recorded in Luau (Moxico Leste) and Zaire, 'which are very worrying', but the defense and security agencies are on standby to dismantle the outbreaks of this crime.

On the other hand, he promised the work of the Attorney General Office to solve some problems that magistrates face in the province, with emphasis on the lack of transport and some working conditions, especially in the interior.

He said he was not satisfied with the number of magistrates and technical staff, a fact that has contributed to the procedural slowness, however, he promised that the institution will continue to invest in the training of staff to solve this problem.

During his stay in Lunda-Norte, Hélder Pitta Gróz met with the magistrates of the public prosecutor's office, the Chitato District Court, a technician who intervenes in the administration of justice and visited the provincial Attorney General Office facilities and the regional museum of Dundo.

The Deputy Attorney General of the Republic, Elizabete Paulo, chaired the release ceremony of seven prisoners covered by the Presidential Pardon, as well as maintained contact with the prisoners.

On Tuesday, the delegation led by Hélder Pitta Gróz travels to the province of Lunda-Sul, by land, with the same objectives of finding out about the functioning of the bodies that intervene in the administration of Justice. HD/DOJ