The First Grade Magistrate Court in Ntchisi has fined 15 people who were arrested for depleting the environment in Fumbati Forest last week to pay K600,000 each or, in default, serve 48 months in jail.

State prosecutor James Muyiya told the court that the convicts were arrested during a joint operation conducted by various stakeholders in the forest on the 15th of this month.

In court, all the convicts pleaded guilty and asked for leniency, saying poverty drove them to commit the offense, but the state objected.

Meanwhile, Magistrate Dorothy Kaluba observed that people in the district are not learning from past punishments meant to encourage environmental conservation.