Bingu Stadium vandalism suspect shot, nabbed: BB billboards looter arrested

A  30-year-old-man of Thomson Chaoneka was shot by police in Lilongwe on Monday night for allegedly attempting to steal pipes at Bingu National Stadium which  has not yet been officially opened even though contractors finished the project last November.

Malawi Police Service (MPS) deputy publicist Thomeck Nyaude confirmed the  shooting, saying it was not fatal and that they arrested Chaoneka of Mpaso Village in Senior Chief Chimaliro’s area in Thyolo District.

Nyaude said police shot the suspect during patrol at the facility.

“The suspect was in the company of his friends. They drilled a hole into the brick fence of the stadium and stole pipes which are used as enforcement,” said Nyaude.

“After they  saw police patrolling the site  saw them, the suspects started running away in different directions.The police shot one of them  [Chaoneka] on the right leg,” added Nyaude.

He said Chaoneka could not run anymore after being shot and he was arrested.

Police took the suspect to Kamuzu Central Hospital [KCH] where he is receiving treatment.

“He will be taken to court once he is discharged to answer a case of theft,” said Nyaunde

Nyaude said police have intensified the search for other suspects who are at large.

Meanwhile, in another development, press reports say  Nyasa Big Bullets on Monday afternoon nabbed suspects alleged to have vandalised the club’s billboard in Limbe, Blantyre earlier this month after putting a bounty of K500,000 for information leading to the arrest of the vandals.

According to the club’s supporters’ committee chairperson, Stone Mwamadi, they nabbed a suspect Geoffrey Kaindo, a Soche resident after a tip off.

“The suspect’s wife confessed that the products were sold in Mulanje, therefore, we travelled there to follow up on the issue, but there we were told by the suspect’s brothers that the suspect had returned to Blantyre. We went to Soche where we found our products hidden in another woman’s house,” Mwamadi said.

Police arrested the suspect’s wife and another woman after the main suspect fled.

Bullets sponsors, Nyasa Manufacturing Company, set aside K100,000 to erect the club’s billboards in Blantyre as part of their marketing drive in their K100 million annual sponsorship to the Super League champions.