Two persons have been arrested by the Lilongwe Police Station and two more are reportedly on the run for allegedly stealing K145.2 million, or USD 64,000, in cash from a businessman who boarded their taxi at the Mango stage near Airwing Turn-off on April 25, 2024, at approximately 9:00 a.m., on his way to Mchinji.
Since then, K5 million and a K10 million Honda Fit car that was allegedly purchased with the money from the theft have been found by the police.
The suspects are 31-year-old Symon Botoman and 32-year-old Joseph Kamanga, also referred to as AKA Ntonga by his classmates.
On this particular day, the victim—a businessman—was allegedly traveling from Gateway Mall when he stopped at the Mchinji roundabout, which is close to the MRA headquarters, to wait for a lift to Mchinji so that he could give his friend the money.
He was at the stage when he was taken up by four unidentified individuals in a car under the guise of a taxi heading to Mchinji Boma.
But when they arrived to Mango stage, which was only a kilometer from where they had picked him up, the four passengers informed the victim that they would no longer be continuing on the trip.
The victim was urged to get out of the vehicle.
While the victim was preoccupied with fumbling with the intentionally locked childlock doors, the gangsters methodically unlocked the laptop bag and, without the victim’s knowledge, took out a plastic bag containing the dollars.
After the thieves had left, the victim discovered that his bag had been opened and that cash had been taken.
Detectives from Lilongwe Police identified the suspects after carefully examining the information they had obtained, and they subsequently took the two into custody in Mzuzu City.
There is a manhunt going on for the two surviving suspects.
Symon Botoman is from Sinde Village, T/A Chidzunde in Kasungu District, while Joseph Kamanga is from Thula Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Kabunduli, Nkhatabay.
News Details provided by Inspector Hastings Chigalu, Lilongwe Police PRO.
