Thieves ‘raid’ police Head Quarters

Exhibiting rare boldness and sophistication whose plot may interest eccentric movie makers, three family members and suspected criminals raided the National Police Headquarters in Lilongwe and nearly proved that the hunted can become successful hunters in crime.

The Kayima brothers—Billy (25), Lemmie (30) and Aubrey (32)—were arrested when their daring plot to steal a newly imported motor vehicle from 32-year-old Uladi Maloko in Area 36 Township in Lilongwe backfired.

Police pounced on the Kayima brothers after they had dramatically pretended to be International Police (Interpol) detectives on a mission to track down a suspected ‘hot’ (stolen) vehicle.

Interpol is invariably regarded as a highly-reputable and dreaded international police wing that has police officers sharing intelligence and coordinating across borders to trace and arrest criminals, and their accomplices, who steal motor vehicles.

But in trying to steal the vehicle from Maloko, the Kayima brothers initially got away with using the same high-flown Interpol reputation to force the alleged victim to release the vehicle, a Toyota Hilux Raider double-cabin, ostensibly for investigations.

In a statement narrating some of the developments, Central Region Police spokesperson Ramsy Mushani said on September 25, the three suspects approached Maloko at his Area 36 house and pretended to be Interpol–Malawi Chapter officials based at Malawi Police Service (MPS) National Headquarters at Area 30, who were tracking a vehicle suspected to be in Maloko’s compound.

The make-believe detectives said the vehicle they were tracking was showing, in their ‘Interpol’ vehicle tracking system, to have been stolen from South Africa.

Reads the statement: “The suspects took [Maloko] to National Police Headquarters, together with the said vehicle, and while there, made [Maloko] wait in the corridor while one of them entered one of the rooms occupied by Interpol. He later came back and took [Maloko] to where the vehicle was parked.

“He [Maloko] wrote down his full details and instructed him to go back, upon giving him their [the suspects’] phone contacts and advised him to report again at National Police Headquarters the following day with the vehicle documents which were said to have been kept by a relation who, on that day, was not around.”

The statement said after Maloko had left the police premises, the three suspects drove in the alleged ‘hot’ car, themselves, to an unknown destination.

It adds that after Maloko realised that he would not connect in time with the person who was keeping the vehicle documents, he decided to relay his predicament to the police by using the phone contacts he had been given.

But the so-called contacts were probably duds, as no telephone contact could be established on any of the numbers he had been given.

Maloko then reported the matter to police and Lilongwe Police Anti-Motor Vehicle Theft Unit picked up the matter for investigation.

After intensive investigations, the three suspects were arrested on October 9 in Sector 3 of Area 25 Township in Lilongwe. The recovered stolen vehicle still had its foreign registration plate of FBY 5905 and its front bull bar, that had been removed, has also lately been recovered by the police.

The Kayima brothers come from Mzumazi Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Mtema in Lilongwe District. The suspects will soon appear in court, charged with the offence of theft and impersonating a police officer, contrary to sections 278 and 99 (b) of the Penal Code.

The incident will go down as one of the most shocking security breaches in the country, considering that it happened at the very police nerve-centre.

The court case will be eagerly followed by the public, who will be wondering whether the criminals tried to steal the vehicle with the help of some ‘insider’ police personnel, especially because security vetting at the Area 30 Police Headquarters’ gates and offices could have easily caught out the intruders ordinarily.

In recent times, robbers and other criminals have made daring raids in other high-security places, including the Vice-President’s official residence in Blantyre and homes and offices of some Cabinet ministers, other top government officials and at least one diplomat.

Commenting on the criminals who targeted Maloko, Mushani appealed to the public to heighten their vigilance against criminals who are using sophisticated tricks to victimise people.

He said people should demand valid police identity cards, which must be closely scrutinised, or verified, by other known serving police officers, before strangers who claim to be such security officers on duty, can be allowed controlled access to residential and office premises.