Four men arrested for possessing and offering for sale protected specie Pangolin

Malawi News Agency

Lingadzi Police in Lilongwe is keeping four men in custody for allegedly found in possession and offering for sale a live pangolin, which is a protected specie.

Lingadzi Police spokesperson, Salomy Zgambo said on Wednesday that they received a tip-off from well-wishers in Area 18B that the suspects were seen offering the pangolin for sale and together with officials from Wildlife Department they followed up the matter and managed to arrest all the suspects.

“The pangolin has since been relocated to a protected area,” Zgambo said.

The four are Yohane Bakali (37) from Kataika village, Traditional Authority (TA) Mseka in Lilongwe; Enoch Chimphwere (44) from Mtamani village, TA Mchenela in Phalombe; Ephraim Banda (27) from Kamkulungo village, TA Chilikumwendo in Dedza and John Bamusi (31) from Chaseta village, TA Chimutu in Lilongwe.

Zgambo added that the four suspects would appear in court soon to answer charges of possession and offering for sale a live pangolin which is contrary to Section 91 of National Park and World Life Act.

She commended members of the public for providing the tip off to them, an initiative which would help to reducing various crimes in the country.

Meanwhile, the same Lingadzi Police has arrested three men for allegedly breaking into Area 10 Water Board Offices and went away with various items valued more than K5.4 million.

Among the stolen items were include 14 pound hammer, angle grinder, safety boots, monitors, bib taps, gate valves, stop cocks, pick heads, shovel, hacksaw blade, tool box, stock and die, spanner steel stain wrench and bova among others.

Zgambo said the suspects were ex-employees of Lilongwe Water Board namely Richard Buleya (38); Jeffrey Maliwata (35) and Legon Phiri (30).

She said “on March 23, 2020 the suspects’ motive was to steal money armed with panga knives and other offensive weapons, tied up five security guards who were on different posts and threatened to kill them if they opted to shout for help.

“Buleya, who was a gang leader, ordered the other two suspects to break windscreens of the three motor vehicles while they were looking for weapons to help them in breaking into the offices.”

Buleya hails from Chimbewa Village, Traditional Authority (TA) Makwangwala in Ntcheu, Jeffrey Maliwata comes from Bayamtedza Village, TA Kamenyagwaza in Dedza and Phiri is from Kumwembe Village, TA Kuntaja in Blantyre and are expected to appear before court soon to answer charges of robbery with violence which contrary to Section 301 of the Penal Code.

Police are still investigating to arrest other three suspects in connection to the robbery, who are currently at large and the offence attracts a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

In Machinga, the police arrested a 41-year-old driver on Wednesday for allegedly causing death due to reckless driving.

Machinga Police deputy public relations officer, Sergeant Ngwashape Nsume said the driver, Frank Namole allegedly killed a pedal cyclist, Dines Kapiye, 41.

She explained that the suspect was driving a car registration number MH 8144 and was driving from Mangochi heading Liwonde with nine passengers on board.

“Upon arrival at Lupale Village he failed to control the motor vehicle due to over-speeding and hit a pedal cyclist who was heading the same direction.

“The deceased sustained multiple body fractures and died on the spot,” Nsume added.

Postmortem conducted in Machinga District Hospital confirmed that the deceased died due to loss of blood, according to Police.

She said the driver would appear before court soon to answer a charge of causing death by reckless driving which is contrary to section 126 of Road Traffic Act.

Late Kapiye, hails from Mdala Village in the area of Traditional Authority (TA) Amidu in Balaka District whilst Namole comes from Maleta Village, TA Nkula in Machinga District.—Reporting by Daniel Namwini and Haneeph Maulana, MANA