Police bust armed robbery syndicate

Police in Blantyre on Tuesday linked the rising cases of recent armed robberies in Blantyre City and surrounding areas to a syndicate of assailants that use wide-ranging tactics.

Police said this following the arrest at the weekend of a man suspected to be a gang leader of the armed robberies that have also claimed some people’s lives.

Blantyre Police Station, pursuing a tip-off, on Sunday night arrested 30-year-old Blessings Kachere in Ndirande Township. He was also found in possession of seven different motor vehicle number plates.

Police said they have discovered that some of the number plates are in their system after reportedly being noticed on vehicles involved in various armed robberies. They gave an example of registration BP 2766 used on a Toyota Corolla that was involved in the robbery of K958 800 belonging to Rab Processors Limited in June this year.

Other fake number plates found with Kachere include BR 7966, NS 1252, TO 3325, BK 8586, MJ 6079 and TJY 237 GP. They were also being used during the robberies, according to police.

Blantyre Police spokesperson Elizabeth Divala confirmed to The Nation on Tuesday that Kachere, who comes from Masaula Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Mlumbe in Zomba, is suspected to be the main actor in the robberies.

Divala also said the suspect has been visiting several commercial banks in Blantyre to monitor customers’ transactions and later trail and ambush those with huge withdrawals.

Said Divala: “He was just monitoring transactions within the banking halls and feeding his accomplices with information. Thereafter, they could trail them until reaching a place they felt was convenient to execute their operation.”

Police said Kachere was also one of the three suspects who bolted during a foiled armed robbery outside National Bank of Malawi head office in Blantyre two weeks ago in which one of them was nabbed.

She said the suspect also owned a motor vehicle garage in Ndirande which it is believed was being used to repaint their vehicle every time they conducted an operation.

One vehicle believed to have been repainted was used during a recent fatal attack on a Portuguese national in Blantyre’s Manja Township. The vehicle belonged to TNM and was also stolen at gunpoint in New Naperi Township.

Reports also show that some stolen vehicles are not recovered because they end up in garages where they are broken up for spare parts.

Since President Peter Mutharika took over power two months ago, the country has witnessed growing insecurity with many cases of systematic armed robberies including that of High Court Judge Rowland Mbvundula’s official Toyota Prado TX vehicle.

Police have confirmed that the judge’s vehicle is yet to be recovered “but strides have been made.”

Kachere’s arrest brings the number of suspects to five. Other suspects include 28-year-old Ziwani Jassi of Chiwalo Village, T/A Kapeni in Blantyre; Simeon Thom Salimu Milanzi, 36, from Gonda Village, Chief Ng’abu in Chikwawa and Levison Emmanuel Phiri, 28, from Mankhamba II Village, T/A Tomasi in Thyolo.