Malawi police arrest criminals in K11m heist:  Stolen cash recovered in 90-minutes manhunt

Malawi Police in Mchinji have arrested three suspects who stole K11 million from a taxi.

The cops in Mchinji are patting themselves in the back for recovering the money in just 90 minutes after the heist.

According to Central West Region Public Relations Officers Alfred Chimthere, the police intercepted the three suspected criminals who attempted to cruise away with the loot from Mchinji boma to an unspecified destination.

Chimthere said the theft incident happened on Tuesday morning at around 10:00 hours and by 11:30 hours, the stolen cash was recovered, culminating in an arrest of two Tanzanians and one Malawian, in the process.

Chimthere said the suspects holding Tanzanian passports have been identified as Sultan Angolile Mwambete (52), passport number TAE273003 and Joshua Singiombo Kibale (57), passport number TAE101941.

They both hail from Rungwe village, Traditional Authority Mwakuysa in Mbeya district, Tanzania.

The immigration stamp in their passports show that they entered Malawi on October 28, 2020, through Songwe border post in Karonga.

The Malawian, identified as Richard Jack (38) hails from Mmanga village, Traditional Authority Msamala, in Balaka district.

Chimthere added that the complainant is a taxi driver Brian Phiri, who was sent by his boss to deposit the cash at one of the banks at the boma.

On his way to the bank, the police spokesperson said, the taxi driver offered a lift to the two Tanzanians who also disembarked at the bank premises allegedly to buy United States dollars (USD).

However, network hitches inside the banking hall forced them to consider visiting another bank for the transaction, he said.

He said Phiri then stopped at a nearby pharmacy store to buy medicine and locked the car, leaving behind the laptop bag which contained the money.

The taxi driver told the police that upon his return from the shop, he found the car door open and the bag had disappeared.

Onlookers at the scene confided to him that two people, whom they thought were his friends, came on a blue Mazda Demio and sped off carrying his bag.

Phiri rushed to Mchinji Police station to report the matter.

Police promptly launched a manhunt and wired intelligence to possible exit points of Kamwendo, Kapiri and Mkanda, including the road to the Zambian border, Chimthere said.

He said at exactly 11:30 hours, the four Police traffic officers who had erected a checkpoint at Kapiri, intercepted the marked Demio, registration number MHG 4909, being driven by Jack who claimed that he was hired by the two Tanzanians.

He said they were immediately arrested on the spot and the MK11 million cash has been recovered in its entirety.

The three suspects will appear in Court to answer a case of theft, he said.

The two-hour manhunt operation that started at Mchinji boma ended on a high note at Kapiri, along the Mchinji – Santhe road.