Four in for allegedly possessing ivory
Malawi Police Service in Dedza and Balaka in collaborations with the Wildlife Crime Investigations Unit have arrested four people for allegedly being found in possession of ivory.
Deputy national police spokesperson Thomeck Nyaude confirmed that the first suspect was arrested on August 7 2020 at Dedza Roadblock on his way to Lilongwe from Blantyre while the other suspect was picked the following day in Chikwawa after investigations.
He said police officers who searched the first suspect’s car found eight trucks of raw ivory and when interrogated, he mentioned the second suspect “as his supplier.”
Nyaude did not give particulars of the suspects but indicated that the first suspect has been working as a Chinese interpreter for about eight years and is also suspected to have trafficked rhino hones to Namibia in 2017.
The two will appear at Dedza Magistrate’s Court on August 17 to answer a charge of possessing specimens of listed species under Sections (86 (1) and 110 (b) of the National Parks and Wildlife Act of 2017.
The other two suspects arrested in Balaka were identified as, Blackston Mwale, 41, and Chimwemwe Chindimba, 40.
They were nabbed for allegedly being found in possession of ivory weighing about 20.2 kgs, valued at K25, 755, 000.
Police arrested them on August 10, 2020 after a well wisher from Wildlife Crime Investigations Unit from the National Police Headquarters in Lilongwe tipped Balaka police that the suspects were offering for sale the ivory at Ajawa Lodge within Balaka Township.
The law enforcers arrested the suspects and seized ivory in the first suspect’s motor vehicle, Suzuki Swift, registration number BV 4152.
Mwale comes from Mponda Village while Chindimba comes from Kandengwe Village, both under Traditional Authority Nsamala in Balaka.
