Rwandan, Burundian arrested in Malawi for printing bank notes

Police at Fort Maguire in Mangochi have arrested Rwandan Manuel Saidi (19) and Burundian Amosi Sean (30), who are believed to be masterminds of printing fake bank notes in the district.

This comes just days after Police in Lilongwe arrested four people over possession and usage of fake Malawi kwacha and US$ currencies.

The case in Mangochi is confirmed by its police public relations officer (PRO), Sub-Inspector Amina Tepani Daudi, saying the arrest of the two follows that of Pangani William (21), who was found in possession of fake Malawian currency amounting to K300,000 at Mangochi main market a few days ago.

Daudi said upon police investigations, William named two foreigners as the masterminds of the printing scheme which led to their arrest on Friday following a tip from the public after they were spotted using the fake bank notes to buy food,” she said.

The two were found with K165,000 in K5,000 notes and a Canon printer, plain papers, razor blades, three printing colour gels and scissors, among others.

William, who was arrested three days earlier, has since identified Saidi and Sean as his accomplices, according to Sub-lnspector Daudi.

“The two admitted to have been printing fake bank notes and they demonstrated the process,” she said, adding that the two will appear before court soon after completing investigation.

The Lilongwe case involves a witchdoctor and three others and according to Lilongwe Police PRO, Hastings Chigalu, they first arrested David Nthakayawina at Mitundu Trading Centre after he deposited K50,000 of K2,000 fake bank notes through an Airtel Money agent.

“When searched at Mitundu Police Unit, he was also found with K168,000 of the same K2,000 fake bank notes,” Chigalu said. “He later told detectives that he collected about K300,000 fake notes from the second suspect, Mazunzo Wawande, to purify the money by either depositing it or buying products.”

Further probe uncovered other suspects connected to the syndicate at Kaphiri within the City and together with officers from the Reserve Bank of Malawi, Lilongwe Police detectives raided Kaphiri location where the third and fourth suspects were arrested.

“At the time of their arrest, third suspect was found with K1.5 million bank notes, whilst Abuduh Kaloti, who is a witch doctor was found with K1,334,000 of K2,000 notes, K225,000 of K5,000 notes, and a total of 2,665 US$ of 100 bank notes — all fake.

“The time of his arrest, Abuduh Kaloti was also found with a sum of K7,479,000 (real money), suspected to have been obtained through the said dubious means, exchanging the fake currency.”

Chigalu said the suspects will appear in court soon to answer cases of possession of forged bank notes, and using forged bank notes which contravene Section 366 of the Penal Code, and section 54, sub-section B of Reserve Bank Act of 2018, respectively.

The suspects, one of whom is still at large, have been identified as David Nthakayawina (from Chadambaira Village); Mazunzo Wawande (from Mgowa Village — both in Traditional Authority (T/A) Chadza, Lilongwe); James Umali (Chibwana Village, T/A Kalembo, Balaka) and Abuduh Kaloti (Chiuta Village, T/A Mkanda, Mulanje).

Meanwhile, Police in Lilongwe are hunting for unknown assailants who have brutally murdered Bellington Mkumba, 45, who until his death was an inventory officer at the Central Medical Stores Trust in the Capital City.

Chigalu disclosed that Mkumba had been out to socialize within Falls Estate and upon returning home, he parked his car at the entrance of his house’s gate to open it.

“After stepping out of his car, he was attacked by a group of unknown criminals who assaulted him severely,” Chigalu said. “The gang escaped the scene when neighbours started to show up after they heard Nkumba’s desperate shouts for help.”

He added that the victim was rushed to Kamuzu Central Hospital while unconscious, where he was pronounced dead on arrival and postmortem conducted by the hospital indicated that his death was due to stabbing wounds, strangulation and suffocation from a tight knot around the neck.

Lilongwe Police has since intensified its investigations to trace and arrest the assailants of Bellington Mkumba, who hailed from Nakwawa Village, T/A Njewa in Lilongwe District.

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