Police in Neno are keeping in custody three young men for alleged possession of Indian hemp, commonly known as chamba, without proper authorisation.

John White, aged 22, Stonard Kazembe aged 21 and 20-year-old William Nasala were arrested at Zalewa Roadblock on Sunday while transporting six 50 kilogramme bags of the weed on three unregistered motorcycles.

The incident comes barely two weeks after police at the same roadblock recovered 158 kilograms of chamba from a Nissan Tilda registration number ZA 1545 that was abandoned on the Mdeka-Zalewa stretch.

Neno police spokesperson, Austin Kamwendo, has confirmed the arrest of the three, and their pending appearance in court.

White comes from Chiwaya village, TA Chigalu in Blantyre, Nasala hails from Ntingala village, TA Symon in Neno while Kazembe comes from Benjamin village, T/A Kanduku in Mwanza.

Meanwhile, the driver and passenger of the Nissan Tilda that was seized by the police a fortnight ago are being remanded at Chichiri Prison after they surrendered themselves to the authorities.