41 YEARS OLD MAN ARRESTED IN NTCHEU

41 YEARS OLD MAN ARRESTED IN NTCHEU Police in Ntcheu have arrested 41-year old Anaphy Thom, driver of an oil tanker, on suspicion that he is involved in the theft of 33,000 litres of crude oil, worth about K21 million. The suspect, who was transporting oil from Beira in Mozambique to Lilongwe, claimed that on the night of June 12, some mysterious men in masks attacked him, somewhere close to Mozambican territory and made away with the tanker. Ntcheu Police Spokesperson, Gift Matewere said that Thom’s narration of his ordeal during the night of the alleged attack sounded fake. “He told police that around 7 pm on this night, a Saloon overtook his tanker and blocked him. He claimed that some men wearing masks approached his truck, opened one side of the vehicle and tied him up. He further alleged that they drove back towards the direction he was coming from, for two hours and stopped at an unknown destination”, said Matewere. According to Thom’s statement to the Police, a day after he was “hijacked”, the mysterious hijackers drove him back to Ntcheu in a different car and dumped him at a certain village. Matewere said that some inconsistencies in Thom’s explanation made them suspect that he has a hand in the missing tanker. Some hours later, the Police instituted an investigation into the missing tanker and found it empty. “Preliminary investigations led to the recovery of the tanker, registration number BK 8839 belonging to Rashy Transport. It was dumped and empty, at Kachipeya Village along the M1 road. Further investigations on the matter are still underway”, added Matewere. The suspect is currently in Police custody and is set to appear before court to answer charges of theft, contrary to Section 283 of the Penal Code. Thom hails from Chimangire Village, Traditional Authority Chimwala in Mangochi District. Officials from Rashy Transport, Thom’s employer and owners of the tanker, said they were not aware of Thom’s arrest or the alleged ambush. But Matewere said that the officials from Rashy Transport are aware of the issue. He added that they are the ones that gave estimates of how much the fuel the tanker was transporting could cost. Last week, it was reported that about four Malawian fuel tankers were ambushed along the Beira-route in Mozambique, with all the drivers coming back home unharmed. According to the drivers, some men in military uniform attacked them, took away the tankers and blew them up. Following the increasing attacks, the Mozambican government is providing military escort to vehicles passing through the Beira-route.