Malawi Police arrest 4 in Zomba for K4m foiled fraud at FDH Bank
Four people have been arrested in connection with a failed attempt to rob FDH Bank in Zomba of money amounting to K4 million .
It was business as usual in the morning hours of Thursday when a Toyota Corolla registration number LA 7444 with four people aboard arrived and parked outside the bank’s premises within the city. One person disembarked from the car and headed into the bank and presented to a teller a cheque worth K4 million.
As per tradition, the teller submitted the cheque to the bank manager for approval. It is at this point that the manager detected that the cheque was suspected to have been stolen somewhere and alerted the police who arrived at the bank immediately.
In a typical James Bond 007 style, the suspect, who was identified by the police as Dalitso Banda (30), managed to break the glass on the door of the bank and freed. But the police and other people outside the bank managed to arrest him while his three accomplices sped away in the car.
From this moment, it was a cat-and-mouse chase as the other suspects fled the scene heading to Blantyre. They were arrested in the early hours of Friday at Ndirande Township and brought back to Zomba Police Station.
Eastern Region Police spokesperson Thomeck Nyaude identified the three suspects Chisoni Dzinkambani (33) from Chikanda Village, Traditional Authority Chikowi in Zomba whereas Lloyd Monola (31) comes from Matchuwana Village, Traditional Authority Nchilamwela in Thyolo.
Alfred Katundu (52) comes from Kondwani Village, Traditional Authority Juma in Mulanje whereas the first suspect Dalitso Banda comes from Naminga Village, Traditional Authority Sitola in Machinga.
In an interview, Nyaude said: “Dalitso went to the bank (FDH Zomba Branch) and presented to a Teller cheque number 000001 bearing the account name of JB Printers and General Dealers. At first there was an initial deposit in Limbe to his personal account an amount of K11 716 481.29 with a cheque suspected to have been stolen.
“We got a tip from the bank manager that there is a cheque which was suspicious and we reacted immediately,” he said.
However, Nyaude has warned the public to be vigilant when they see strange people moving around saying; criminals have advanced in their tricks as the world is also developing.
