Police arrest 4 gate cashiers

Four gate cashiers have been arrested at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre for allegedly hiding K447 000, which was part of revenue for the TNM Super League match between Mighty Wanderers and Sable Farming FC.

Wanderers won the match 3-1 through a Vincent Nyangulu brace and Yamikani Chester goal while Taniel Mhango scored for Sable Farming.

Super League of Malawi (Sulom) treasurer Malinda Chinyama and Wanderers board secretary Humphrey Mvula confirmed, saying the four arrested, who include one woman, have been taken to Soche Police Sub-Station but could not identify them by press time.

The development follows football stakeholders’ dissatisfaction with gate revenue at big facilities after a mid-week Super League match between Nyasa Big Bullets and newly-promoted side Dedza Dynamos at Balaka Stadium grossed K12 million, a similar amount generated at a recent Blantyre derby involving Bullets and Wanderers at Kamuzu Stadium.

Chinyama said it was sad to note that there are some bad apples that tend to soil the image of gate management at the stadium.

“While clubs and players are suffering financially, some unscrupulous individuals are busy stealing money at the gates. We will work hand in hand with FAM and the police to ensure the culprits are severely punished,” he said.

Mvula said he was happy that they have been vindicated on claims that gate fraud continues to exist at Kamuzu Stadium.

He said: “We are happy that the truth has come out regarding our claims. However, it is our hope that Football Association of Malawi, Sulom and the police will seriously act on this case.

“They should not only paint an image that they the thieves are being arrested. These authorities should also be interested to take the thieves to court and identify the whole chain involved in this criminal enterprise.”

One of the officers, who arrested the quartet, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were at the gates monitoring the situation before the kick off.

Said the police officer: “We were monitoring the gates. We saw some cashiers hiding money, but we did not disturb them and we allowed them to finish collecting cash. Afterwards, we took all the cashiers with money boxes into a special room where we were counting the cash collected.

“So we had to search. We found money in their underwear. The total amount is K447 000 and we have since arrested them,” he said.