A-34 year old Tobacco farmer is in Police custody in the Nothern district of Rumphi for allegedly wanting to trickle club members by making false claims that the money had been stolen by armed robbers when in real sense, he had buried it in the pigsty.
Rumphi Police Head of Criminal Investigations (CID) Inspector Hunderer Moyo confirmed of the development with an interview with the Press and identified the suspect as Dave Waluza Gama.
According to Moyo, the suspect was in custody of the money from proceeds of tobacco sales for Jamani Farmers Club, however, he wanted to keep the whole lot (bounty) to himself by claiming that robbers had attacked him during the night.
Inspector Moyo explained that the suspect called Rumphi Police by telephone at around 2 a.m. claiming that armed robbers had paid him a visit and had stolen from him money amounting to MK6 million, then changed the figure to K9.5 million.
“We got suspicious with his claims so we advised him to report to Ntchenachena Police. But we communicated with our colleagues that in the event that he goes there they should detain him until we arrive for further questioning,” Moyo said.
He said when police detectives visited the scene of the alleged crime and questioned him further about the armed robbery claims, he started to give contradictory information and this raised eyebrows even more about his story. He was immediately taken to Rumphi Police.
Police have since recovered the money buried in the pigsty amounting to MK7.5 million.
Gama hails from Mzomera Village in the area of Traditional Authority Mwahenga in Rumphi District.
