Police in Dedza have arrested a 21 year old man identified as Pemphero Kankhuni for impersonating a Malawi Defence Force (MDF) soldier.

According to Dedza Police Deputy Public Relations Officer, Constable Cassim Manda, Kankhuni was arrested on Monday night at Dedza roadblock when he approached Police officers to help him find a lift.

“Kankhuni who was in military attire has been presenting himself as a person employed by the MDF and on that particular day he asked Police officers at the roadblock to assist him in finding a lift,” he explained.

Manda pointed out that few minutes later a MDF vehicle was passing by the roadblock and the Police officers handed him over to his purported fellow soldiers to give him a lift. “When soldiers asked him some questions pertaining to their work, Kankhuni knew nothing. This prompted the soldiers to search him and he was found with a fake military identity card which belonged to a different person.

He was handed over to Police officers at the roadblock who arrested him immediately,” PRO added. Manda said Police investigations have discovered that before the arrest, the suspect met a Police officer at Dedza Standard Bank Branch in a full military attire and introduced himself as a MDF soldier.

He said the suspect had gone to a shop at Dedza Boma and ordered the owner of the shop who had put on camouflage attire to voluntarily surrender it to him and he unlawfully detained another person at Bembeke Market in the district for putting on camouflage accusing him of tarnishing the image of MDF.

Police is advising members of the public to report to Police if they have come across any suspicious individuals posing as military officer saying such are the ones fueling criminal activities in the district.

Kankhuni hails from Chimpuza village in the area of Traditional Authority (TA) Ganya in Ntcheu.