Police kill another robbery suspect at Kameza

Police in Blantyre yesterday shot dead one more suspect in the Petroda (Malawi) Limited cash heist that happened in Lilongwe last week Monday.

National Police spokesperson Rhoda manjolo confirmed the shooting in a telephone interview last evening.

She said the police met the suspects around Kameza Roundabout in Blantyre while carrying two other suspects in their vehicle en route to Lilongwe.

Said Manjolo: “What I can say is that our officers were driving to Lilongwe with two suspects that are believed to be part of the gang that killed a police officer last week and when they reached Kameza Roundabout, the suspects in the car saw and showed our officers their friends. They were three.

“When they saw that our car had stopped, they [suspects] started to run away and the officers started chasing them and shot at one who died on the spot. The other two escaped.”

She said the police have intensified the search of the two.

Since Peter Mutharika and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the May 20 2014 Tripartite Elections, there have been increased cases of armed robberies, including break-ins to houses of high-profile personalities such as Vice-President SaulosChilima’s official residence in Blantyre and Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security AtupeleMuluzi in Area 9 while he served as msinister of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining.

There have also been several armed robbery cases where police officers have been shot dead, prompting some quarters to call for the reintroduction of shoot-to-kill.

However, Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation(CHRR) executive director Timothy Mtambo has condemned the shooting and killing of suspects, saying the drive to reduce armed robberies in the country can be successful with a security plan backed by resources not shooting suspects.