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Herbalist arrested for abduction

Police in Machinga have arrested Victor Mtuwa, a Liwonde based herbalist, who was the centre of attention following the mysterious missing of a 21-year-old school girl last week.

Mtuwa, 50, was arrested on Friday after he was let free for three days following the fracas that resulted in the complete destruction of his house at Mawira Location in Liwonde on Tuesday, according to police.

An artist’s illustration of an arrested man

The herbalist is suspected to have hired people to abduct a Form Four student at Mawira Private Secondary School and hid her in one of his residence’s rooms.

Following her missing, students from Mawira and community members vandalised Mtuwa’s property in a bid to search for their colleague and when they failed to find her, they burnt his house.

Machinga Police Station spokesperson Davie Sulumba said yesterday that Mtuwa is currently on full remand (two weeks) pending completion of investigations.

He said: “At the moment, he has been charged with abduction with intent to murder contrary to Section 261 as read with Section 402 of the Penal Code.”

On Wednesday last week, police told The Nation they could not arrest Mtuwa because he was being treated as a complainant following the loss of his property which he said was valued at over K80 million.

Speaking in a telephone interview from his unnamed hiding place then, Mtuwa said he was shocked with the news and wondered why he was being targeted.

He also threatened to sue the people involved in stealing his household items and setting his house on fire.

Meanwhile, police have said the 32 suspects who were arrested last week in connection with the incident appeared before Machinga second grade magistrate Maxwell Bowazi on Friday where they all pleaded not guilty.

Out of the 32 suspects, 27 were charged with inciting violence, two with arson while three were slapped with conduct likely to cause breach of peace.

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