Police apprehend Ntcheu road blockers
The Malawi Police Service (MPS) has arrested, without mercy, suspects that were terrorising road users between the central and southern region in Ntcheu district by blocking the road at night and smashing their vehicles to become illegal owners of their valued possessions.
The social media was awash with lamentations from different Malawian citizens circulating audios of their different experiences along the road across hills in Zizulu in the district.
One citizen recorded a nasty experience on the wee hours of last Friday where he was severely attacked by a mob of more than twenty men attempting to steal a car from him and possibly kill all those that were in the vehicle.
“Good people, I am using a VN because I cannot type my message because the hand that I use is in injured and in great pain.
“I was driving a vehicle in the company of my colleagues from field work. We passed by a bus (Ma Tours) in the hills around Lizulu. People were signalling us to stop but I ignored them as didn’t know what they actually wanted to communicate to us. We discovered that they wanted to warn us from what they experienced where we were heading.
“I drove for about 400 meters when we found that the road was blocked with huge rocks and a mob of men armed with panga knives attacked us. They wanted to steal our vehicle. I managed to reverse while under attack until we reached close to where the bus was and that’s when they left us. I was so injured,” he lamented.
Now the good news released by the Malawi Police Service on Wednesday is that nine thugs, suspected to be the criminals that were robbing motorists by blocking the M1 road with stones at Kachipeya near Lizulu Trading Centre in Ntcheu District have been arrested.
A press release signed by Deputy Public Relations Officer for the Malawi Police Service, Inspector Harry Namwaza, says the arrests, effected in the wee hours on Wednesday, April 20, 2022, comes after an intelligence driven raid was conducted by Ntcheu Police detectives and that some dangerous weapons including panga knives were seized from the suspects. It adds that the suspects will appear in court soon.
“The Malawi Police Service (MPS) calls upon the public to always report to their nearest police formation of any criminal activity or suspicious people in their areas, to help police in ensuring safer communities.
“Further, the MPS is assuring the public of continued police patrols and intelligence gathering along the M1 road in the district, to comb the area of any criminal element,” reads the last paragraph of the press release seen by Nyasa Times.
