Malawi: Police in Ntcheu have arrested two suspects for the offense of impersonating a police officer and giving false information. The offenders have been identified as 32 year old Cosmas Phalula and 28 year old Henderson Malunga.
The suspects had teamed to mislead a pastor and connive to get money from him. The incident happened on April 11 where where the first suspect posed as Sergeant Phiri.
On the other hand, his accomplice posed as as a suspect detained at Tsangano Roadblock. He was allegedly detained on allegation that he was found with property without documents.
The Public Relations Officer for Ntcheu Police Station, Jacob Khembo shared the details of the incident. According to the reports, the two suspects then called Pastor Simeon, a resident of Area 25 in Lilongwe.
The suspects told them that Henderson Malunga had been detained by the police and they needed assistance.
The pastor is also a relative to Malunga, accordingly, they told him to send K45,000. They claimed that after the payment, he should be released from police detention. At this point the pastor sent the money.
After the fact, their phone numbers were unreachable for some days. Further, this prompted the pastor to report to Lilongwe Police. In his report, the pastor claimed that his relative went missing while in the hands of police.
The pastor also reported the matter to the Independent Complaints Commission (ICC).
The ICC made a follow up with Ntcheu Police on the incident. Further the Intelligence Unit of the police launched investigations, leading to the arrest of the two.
“The duo admitted to have connived so that they get money from their relative which could have been a problem if normally requested,” said Khembo.
The two will appear before court soon to answer charges of impersonation and giving false information respectively.
Phalula hails from James Village, Traditional Authority (TA) Makwangwala in Ntcheu while Malunga is from Singano Village, TA Kuntaja in Blantyre.