Stolen gun causes stir at Immigration Hqs
In what could be equaled to typical Hollywood movie, workers at the Immigration Department Headquarters in Blantyre were left speechless after learning that a firearm had been ‘mysteriously’ stolen from a stationery vehicle outside their offices.
An eye witness told Nyasa Times by telephone, there was tension outside the premises after the news broke out.
The vehicle, whose full particulars could not be established by our source, reportedly belonged to the department and was parked outside the offices and locked. It was also not clear who owned the firearm.
Immigration Department Headquarters is housed in the New Regional Government Offices for the South, next to Blantyre’s Old Town hall.
“The vehicle was parked outside their offices, near the main entrance of the building. The driver claims that when he parked the vehicle he locked it but was surprised to realize that the gun had been stolen while the doors were intact,” explained a source who works at a nearby private company.
Another source working with the Immigration Department but speaking on a strict condition of anonymity confirmed the incident saying “it’s true it happened on Monday, we were left clueless but I have scanty details to tell you. But our public relations officer has all the details.”
However, both Immigration Department and Southern Region Police spokespersons, Pudensiana Makalamba and Davie Chingwalu respectively were not available for comment.
According to the source, the development has resulted in the Department chasing away all vendors who were carrying out their business outside the New Regional Government Offices.
The Immigration Department reported the matter to police who went to chase the vendors away.
A visit to the New Regional Government complex on Thursday morning revealed that the vendors operating various small scale businesses had indeed been chased away from the area.
Among those who have been chased away include airtime sellers, soft drinks sellers and photographers who were taking photographs of people coming to the Immigration Department for passports, travel documents, visas and other relevant documents.
A vendor who has seemingly deified the order to vacate the place and is still taking pictures a few meters away from the main entrance of the building confirmed in an interview Thursday morning that police came to chase them away.
He said: “It was around 9.00am when we saw a police patrol vehicle registration number MP 1915 with about seven officers in full combat gear telling us to leave the place.
“We were under panic we had to run away with our tables, crates, chairs etc on our heads. They told us never to come back if we did we would be beaten and arrested,” said the photographer who refused to give his name.
He said Immigration officials suspect that the vendors are the ones habouring the thugs hence their removal.
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