The people’s guards over January-July this year assisted in catching 66 offenders red-handed and in discovering 375 offences. The information was presented on Monday at a roundtable meeting organized by the Ministry of the Interior, Info-Prim Neo reports. Dumitru Rusu, deputy division head at the Ministry, said that the law enforcement bodies cooperate efficiently with the civil society in preventing offences and maintaining public order. A number of 1,186 people’s guards with about 15,000 employees work in the country at present. He also said that the Ministry of the Interior wants to cooperate more effectively with the Hunters and Fishermen’s Society, especially as regards the holding of guns. “The situation in this area is alarming. Eleven offences using firearms have been committed this year. Four of the cases resulted in death. After the law on firearms took effect, more people started to purchase guns. The legal entities and private individuals in Moldova hold officially about 58,200 firearms,” Dumitru Rusu said. He informed that 1,774 reports over poaching and illegal cutting of trees were drawn up as a result of the 2,783 raids carried out this year.