LL Carpark Thieves Nabbed

Toyota Rav4 used in carpark theft 

Police in Lilongwe have arrested two men suspected to be thieves who have been stealing in carparks around Lilongwe shopping centres.

Public Relations Officer for Lilongwe Police, Inspector Kingsley Dandaula while conforming the development said the two suspects have since confessed to be thieves who steal items from vehicles parked at big shopping carparks like, shopprite, Lilongwe City Mall, Crossroads and Gateway Mall.

Toyota corolla vehicle used in car park theft 

He also said three men have been arrested inn connection to the incident after being named by the suspects as buyers for the stolen items.

Dandaula has identified the two suspected carpark thieves as Shamil Osman aged 42 from Mitawa village of T/A Likoswe in Chiradzulu district but stays in Area 36 and Mavuto Mataya aged 28 from Namadzowa village of T/A Mabuka in Mulanje district and stay at Kaphiri.

Two vehicles used in Car Park robberies 

Dandaula said when carrying out theft, the two suspects were using two motor vehicles Toyota Rav4 registration number PE 1769 red in color and Toyota Corolla silver color registration number TO 3064.

The two would park their vehicles next to their target then wait for the victim to come out of the vehicle and go for shopping, said Dandaula.

The police officer said using handmade keys, the two would then open doors of the victims vehicle and went away with various items left inside the vehicle.

Corolla vehicle used in Car Park robbery 

Upon the arrest, police recovered various items including laptop bags, several handmade keys, baby clothes Land Beacon Scanner, Overhead Projector, and cellphones among other items.

The two suspects were arrested during a raid police conducted in Area 36 following a tipp-off from members of general public.

Inspector Dandaula says police investigations are underway.

2 Nigerian Nationals Arrested In Malawi for Cocaine, Fake Currency

Two Nigerians nationals are in police custody in Lilongwe for being found in possession of Illegal drugs suspected to be Cocaine and fake local currency.

Police Public Relations Officer Inspector Kingsley Dandaula said the two men were arrested following a tipp-off that they were in dangerous drug business in the capital, Lilongwe.

The two have been identified as Emmanuel Uche and Izuchuku Ekemezia. Both are business men who owns shops in Lilongwe.

Inspector Kingsley Dandaula said when Police CIDs received information that two Nigerian nationals are involved in selling of dangerous drugs they did not hesitate to follow up the matter and made arrests immediately.

Dandaula said one man Emmanuel Uche aged 34, from Nigeria was arrested in Mchesi and was the one found with fake currency

"In the course of searching for the drugs CID officers found one thousand kwacha bank notes amounting to K11,000 but are suspected to be fake."

"Later officers went to area 47 where another accomplice Laurence Izuchuku Ekemezia aged 32 from Nigeria lives" said Lilongwe Police PRO

"After search, police found substance suspected to be Cocaine but we have not yet weighed the substance."

Inspector Dandaula has indicated that police have sent the suspected fake money to Reserve Bank for examination.

As for the suspected cocaine, Pharmacy and Poisons Board are also doing their examination.

Police Arrests Two Men For Allegedly Lending Firearms To Criminals

Police in The Capital, Lilongwe arrests two men on suspicion that they hire their riffles to some criminals to conduct armed robberies around the city.

Inspector Kingsley Dandaula, Lilongwe Police Publoc Relations Officer named the suspects as Christopher Moya Chimzukira aged 27 from Zamula village T/A Khongoni in Lilongwe cureently based in area 24 and Symon Kaphata Kalitsiro aged 40 from Matapa village T/A Malili in Lilongwe but is based in Kaphiri.

Inspector Dandaula says police suspects that the two have been lending their licensed  guns to criminals.

Dandaula said the two own Short gun 12 Bore Greener and Short Gun CAL 12 Bore respectively. 

The police officer however said the first suspect Christopher Moya Chimzukira was found with 2 rounds of live ammunition while the second suspect Symon Kaphata Kalitsiro was found with 18 rounds of ammunition when police were making the arrest on Thursday.

Both suspects are in police custody pending further investigations of whether the suspects have been hiring their firearms to criminals for armed robberies happening in the city.

2 Bodies Found Buried in Their Home, LL Police Arrest Man in Connection to Richard Master Murder

Two men were found dead and their bodies buried inside one of the three bedroom house they lived in, at Kaphiri, in Chiweza village in the Capital city, Lilongwe. Police have commenced investigations into this murder. 

One of the deceased was identified as a photographer Alex Makonyola aged 33 from Likhaka village of T/A Mwambo in Zomba while another person is only known as Patrick who is said to be the house boy of Alex.

According to Lilongwe Police Public Relations Officer, Sub Inspector Kingsley Dandaula, police suspects that the murder happened almost five to ten days before bodies were found on Tuesday 24th March 2015 saying they were in decomposed state.

Dandaula said on Monday, some members of community at Kaphiri informed Police on the matter after suspecting that Alex Makonyola was dead following a strong fetid smell from his house. But he said people in the area learnt of the development when a young boy who once stayed with Makonyola visited the house and informed neighbors that he found Makonyola’s house locked but an awful smell was coming out of it.

“When Police arrived and entered the house, could only locate the direction of the smell since the room was too dark to see anything inside” said the Sub Inspector Dandaula

“So we smashed part of the wall which was a brick sealed window, that’s when we saw the horrifying scene” he said, they saw what looked like a grave at the corner in that room and a shoulder protruding from the ground. 

He said upon dig up, they found body of Makonyola and another man which some members of the community have identified him as Patrick.

The Lilongwe Police PRO said Patrick was identified because of his necklace and not by face because the two bodies were already in decomposed state, of which he said failed medical doctors from Kamuzu Central Hospital to carry out the postmortem.

“We are investigating into this brutal murder to find the suspects and motive of doing such” said Dandaula who indicated that the two victims had severe injuries in the head leading to suspect that the murderers used heavy weapons.

The exhumed bodies have been buried by police at Chimwala cemetery behind Chimwala CCAP church.

Meanwhile Police in Lilongwe Area 36 Police Unit have arrested Tiyese James aged 22 from Kaondo village T/A Tsabango in Lilongwe in connection to March 13, 2014 murder of Richard Master aged 18 from Maloya village of T/A Chikowi in Zomba.

Lilongwe Police Public Relations Officer Sub Inspector Kingsley Dandaula says Richard Master was murdered in Area 36 and the suspect who is thought to be one of the members of Area 36 notorious group ’11 Bongo’s’ has been on the run since the crime was committed.

He will answer murder charges and other criminal activities he carried out together with 11 Bongo group.

LL Police Reduced Crime Rate By 2% in 2014

LL Police Reduced Crime Rate By 2% in 2014

Police in the Capital Lilongwe have in the year 2014 managed to reduce crime rate to a difference of 337 cases representing 2% (police standard calculations) a decline from 11.6% in 2013.

Sub Inspector Kingsley Dandaula said in an interview that the decline is a comparison of 8,735 cases in 2013 against 8,398 cases registered in 2014.

The statistics shows the decline was mainly a successful reduction of road accidents and general theft. Road accidents recorded in 2014 were reduced by 2.9% and General Theft cases were reduced by 0.16%.

Graph showing LL Police Trends between 2013-2014

“We managed to reduce crime to this far because we intensified patrols both foot and vehicle patrols during day and night in all strategic places like banks and residential areas” explained Dandaula. “Traffic officers also in the period under review intensified checks on unroad-worthy vehicles, drunk drivers and our CID’s were also conducting patrols and raids”

Though Lilongwe police managed to reduce overall crime rate to such percentage, but some crimes registered an increase as compared to 2013 figures. Robbery cases grew from 740 in 2013 to 915 cases in 2014 representing 0.88% (police standard calculations). And cases of defilement have also registered an increase as well as mob justice and burglary

“Some of the cases showing an increase just need proper sensitization" said Dandaula, "We now need to sensitise the general public more on dangers of mob justice and work together with various stakeholders on sensitising the public on evils of rape so that we should reduce these cases in 2015”

He also pointed out that police have not done well mainly due to challenges of poor funding resulting to scarcity of resources like money to buy fuel for police vehicles, and lack of good condition vehicles that can be used to respond to any call.

From the new statistics Lilongwe Police is one of the station which has managed to arrest most notorious criminals and recovered stolen property worth Millions of Kwacha's during the year under review.

Lilongwe police which is located at the centre of Malawi’s capital has two substations namely Lingadzi and Kawale. It has also 3 posts and total of 22 police units in both urban and rural areas. With current ratio of 1 police officer serving a population of 2080 (1:2080) against recommended 1 police officer managing 1500 population (1:1500), Lilongwe Police is continuing to struggle manage security situation due to the growing population in the capital as many people are flocking into the city seeking for greener pasture a development which is attracting theft and vandalism by armed robbers even from Malawi’s neighboring countries.

Despite numerous challenges Lilongwe police is facing Dandaula expressed hope that this might change as government has already began showing interest in police by procuring vehicles of which some have already been given to Lilongwe police. He assured that police will continue with efforts tightening security so that there should be no cases of security lapse in the capital.

                                                 Major Cases With Detailed Statistics

(Note: All percentage calculations are based on police standard percentage. Therefore all bracketed percentages are just a percentage change calculations)

8,735 cases were recorded in 2013 against 8,395 in the same period of 2014 a decrease of 337 representing 2% decrease  (3.86%)

81 murder cases were recorded in 2013 against 100 cases in 2014 a decrease of 19 representing 0.1% increase (23.46%)

4 cases registered in 2013 on mob justice against 6 cases in 2014 a difference of 2 representing 0.01% increase (50%)

On sexual offences; 18 cases were reported in 2013 on rape against 29 cases in 2014 a diference of 11 representing 0.06% increase (61.11%). And 69 defilement cases were reported in 2013 against 112 in 2014 a difference of 43 representing 0.22% increase (62.32%).

Burglary registered 38 cases in 2013 against 57 in 2014 deference of 19 representing 0.10% increase (50%).

Robbery cases increased from 740 cases in 2013 to 915 in 2014 a difference of 175 representing 0.88% increase (23.65%).

General Theft registered 2477 cases in 2013 against 2446 in 2014 a difference of 31 representing 0.16% decrease (1.25%).

Road accidents registered 2090 cases in 2013 against 2042 cases in 2014 a difference of 48 representing 2.9% decrease (2.3%)

LL Police Shot Dead 4 Armed Robbers, 1 At large

Police assure residence of maximum security

Armed robbers from Malawi and Mozambique have died after being shot by Police in Lilongwe on Monday evening. Two Malawians died on spot and the other two Mozambican nationals were arrested and later died at Kamuzu Central Hospital but one Mozambican national is on loose.

According to Lilongwe Police Station Public Relations Officer Sub Inspector Kingsley Dandaula the armed robbers exchanged gun-shots with police where two Malawian nationals died on spot and two Mozambican nationals were arrested but had shot wounds.

Dandaula said the police followed tip that some robbers camping somewhere at Biwi near Kalikuti hotel were in the day planning to carryout robbery in the capital city Lilongwe targeting filling stations, banks and some shops.

He said police had the suspects on surveillance and rounded them up at a newly constructed Lilongwe West By-pass road roundabout and Gateway Mall “When our officers identified the criminals they started to exchange gunshots and two Malawian criminals were killed on spot and the other two who are Mozambican nationals died at Kamuzu Central Hospital”

Dandaula mentioned that the deceased criminals were armed with an AK 47 with 18 rounds of live ammunition, an axe, valium drugs, but said the investigations are underway.

Sub Inspector Dandaula further said police identified one Mozambican criminal to be responsible in one of the murder that took place in Dedza and that the other Malawian suspect had criminal record of stealing vehicles.

Currently in Lilongwe cases of armed robbery are happening daily during the day and night.

But the Lilongwe Police PRO has assured Lilongwe City Residence of their security “We want to assure Lilongwe city residence that as police, we will work together with them in ensuring maximum security in the city. We know people have begun to say that there is security lapse in Lilongwe but we would like to assure them that we are doing all that we can to arrest these criminals but I would like to urge members of general public to share us information of any suspects.”

LL Police Shot Dead 1 And Arrest 2 Suspected Armed Robbers

LL Police Shot Dead 1 And Arrest 2 Suspected Armed Robbers

Police in Lilongwe over the weekend shot dead one suspect and arrested two armed robbers. The three were interrupted by police following a tip that some criminals were planning to carryout robbery between area 3 and 9.

According to Lilongwe police station public relations officers Sub Inspector Kingsley Dandaula Area 36 police followed the tip and found the three suspects at one place in area 36.

He said upon noticing the police presence one suspect began to run but police started a chase. He said after several warning shots fired in the air failed to stop the suspect they shot the suspect in the back and was pronounced dead upon arrival at Kamuzu Central Hospital.

“Police shot the suspect accidentally in trying to stop him” said Sub Inspector Dandaula

He said one of the two arrested suspects was found with two live ammunition and torch and the investigations also found that one suspect Lameck Chidina also known as ‘Gaba’ was released on Court bail at Limbe Darton Principle Resident Magistrate Court on 25^th April this year answering a case of being found in possession of breaking instrument without lawful excuse.

He added that these suspects were involved in several crimes that took place in Lilongwe of which some cases their friends are serving jail sentences.

“We have found out that these suspects have been attacking area 3 and area 9 in several occasions. In area 3 they attacked a certain business person and tried to abduct his wife who was rescued by our 990 police officers when rushed to the scene.” He said

“These suspects are very dangerous and we are still going on with our investigations” he said saying the investigations will involve finding out the other suspect who may have a gun which would have been used for two live ammunition found by the arrested suspects.

The two suspects have been identified as Lameck Chidina aged 29 from Nsomba village T/A Bibikulunda in Salima and Patrick Phiri Swale aged 36 from Mwakula village T/A Malengachanzi in Nkhotakota district.