A Zimbabwean national, Lawrence Mutenga, 32 who was arrested for attempting to obtain a Malawian Passport, has been sentenced to five months imprisonment with hard labour.

Spokesperson for the Immigration Department in the Central Region, Ellack Banda confirmed of the development with the Press.

Banda said the suspect filled the passport forms with the fake name of Lawrence Phiri from Bvumbe Village, T\A Chitukula in Lilongwe.

According to Banda, the suspect wanted to process the passport to travel to UK but investigations by the Immigration department established that he was not a Malawian.

“In our investigations we found out that this person is not a Malawian but a Zimbabwean who goes by the name Lawrence Mutenga.

“After arresting him we took him to court where he was convicted five months and after serving the sentence he would be deported,” he said

According to Banda, this is not the first time for a Zimbabwean national to be found guilty of the same offence in the country.

Mutenga hails from Bulawayo in Zimbabwe.