HARARE (IPS)—The arrest of three Americans, found with a large cache of arms as they attempted to board a SwissAir flight to Zurich, has raised a lot of questions about the lax of security in Zimbabwe.

"There could be heaps of weapons stashed in Zimbabwe,’’ said Zimbabwe’s outspoken political commentator, John Makumbe.

"The fact that arms were here with the police not knowing about them, raises fear as to our capacity to detect movements of arms of war,’’ said Mr. Makumbe.

The three suspects, whose names have been withheld by the police, maintain the weapons were for hunting purposes.

The U.S. Embassy in Zimbabwe has refused to comment, saying the matter is with the Zimbabwean police.

Among the weapons recovered were a light machine-gun, two sniper rifles, three AK-47 rifles, five silencers, 19 pistols, five shotguns, six telescopic lenses, 70 knives and binoculars.

Police also recovered camouflage cream used by soldiers, seven mobile communication handsets, as well as refrigerators and washing machines used to conceal the weapons and pistol magazines.

A truck loaded with arms hidden inside had been left parked outside the airport.

The assortment of weapons is reportedly larger than the one recovered during the failed 1988 mission by the South African military intelligence to rescue five saboteurs who had illegally entered Zimbabwe to carry out an act of destabilization.

Those saboteurs are languishing at the Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison in Harare where they are serving a life sentence for their offense.

A local Member of Parliament (MP) said he has been shocked that such an amount of arms could enter the country undetected, only to be caught upon exit. "We don’t know what they may have hidden in the country,’’ said the legislator.

The arms cache comes amid reports that private security companies in Africa are increasingly replacing the state as the providers of security for both the population and multinational companies.

According to a book, entitled "Peace, Profit or Plunder?" published in South Africa in early March, these companies provide anything from competitor intelligence and risk management, to personal security and installation and management of protection and surveillance equipment.

Unconfirmed reports say the Americans entered Zimbabwe through the northern Chirundu border post, on the Zambezi river. They were only picked up at the Harare International Airport when one of them was caught hiding a gun in his clothes.

A Zimbabwean police spokesman, Flavian Makwara, said two other suspects are still at large. The other weapons had already passed through the security check-points at the airport, where the accused wanted to board a flight to Switzerland.

"Supposing the weapons were intended for Zimbabwe, they had already found their way in,’’ said Mr. Makumbe.

"We have created a lot of enemies, nationally and regionally by being involved in the DRC,’’ said Mr. Makumbe. "What has been discovered so far could only be the ears of a hippo. We don’t know how much of the weapons are finding their way here.’’

Zimbabwe has dispatched nearly 10,000 troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where they are helping Congolese government troops quell an eight-month rebellion.

Unconfirmed reports say the Americans flew into Harare in February (presumably with the weapons) and proceeded to the DRC via Zambia. It is also still not clear how the group managed to cross Zambia without being detected.

Zambia has recently been accused by Angola of gun-running for the rebels of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). Zambia has denied the charge.