Kidnappers threaten children of rich people in Malawi
After Malawi President Joyce Banda has reportedly received death threats since the uncovering of a high-level fraud scandal, rich people and wealthy businesspersons mostly of Asian origin have been issued with threats of having their children kidnapped.
Members of the Asian Business Community in Lilongwe confirmed the issue, saying most people have received phones and text from anonymous numbers and others indicating coming from South Africa and Swaziland.
The business persons said they reported the threats to the police as they fear for their children’s lives.
Despite reporting the numbers to police (Nyasa Times has the numbers) of kidnapping threats and extortion have increased, and mainly children from wealthy families are targeted.
Police CID cops confirmed that there have been threats of kidnapping children and blackmails of their parents from various sources.
The Police are warning parents to exercise caution with their school-going children saying kidnappers find out the smallest details, inquire how much money the victim has, what are the children’s names, how old they are, where they go to school, what they do outside of school.
In addition, they very well know how to scare, and thus to blackmail a person.
Malawi Police were currently investigating the threats on the lives of President Banda and her family members.
Minister of Information, Brown Mpinganjira told reporters last week that President Banda has been receiving death threats over her crackdown to a graft scandal dubbed the Capital Hill cash-gate, where top official are suspected of swindling more than $3 million (2.2 million euros) from state coffers.
Mpinganjira said the threats shows “how serious the battle against fraud and corruption is.”
Last month a budget director in the ministry of finance, Paul Mphwiyo, who had been investigating a fraud ring accused of siphoning millions of dollars from the state was shot outside his home.
Prosecutors estimate that as much as one-third of the impoverished country’s revenue is lost to fraud and graft-linked pay-outs.
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