Malawi Police arrest 3 in Mponela over  fake maize seeds

Malawi Police are warning people to carefully examine maize seeds they want to buy this planting season following reports that there are fake seeds on the market.

On Monday, police arrested three men on suspicion they were involved in production of fake maize seeds.

Mponela police spokesperson Kaitano Lubrino said the suspects packed the fake maize seeds in bags of Bayer Malawi brand formerly known as Monsanto.

Lubrino has identified the suspects Govati Mkoko 38, of Kajondo village, T/A Kawomba in Kasungu,  Mcloyd Chilunjika 43, of Mdambwi village, T/A Dzoole in Dowa and Billy Yolamu 32, of Bwanali village, T/A Mponela in Dowa.

He said they were found with 38 packs weighing 10kgs each of suspected fake maize seed and have since been confiscated.

Empty Monsanto bags, wool and batch numbers were also recovered from  the suspects.

Dennis Kachikho, who works for Bayer Malawi Limited as Central Region Sales Manager, confirmed that the packaging materials were genuine but said the seed was fake.

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