POLICE IN LUNDAZI RECOVER STOLEN FERTILIZER
POLICE IN LUNDAZI RECOVER STOLEN FERTILIZER
Lundazi, Jan 22, 2025, ZANIS—Police in Lundazi district of Eastern Province have recovered all the 36 bags of fertilizer valued at K44,100 that were stolen by some unscrupulous members of the community.
The fertilizer belongs to the Department of Community Development under the Farmer Support Programme (FSP).
The commodity was meant to benefit 9 farmers on the FSP programme, a government social protection programme aimed at assisting vulnerable but viable farmers.
According to the Eastern Province Commissioner of Police, Robertson Mweemba, the fertilizer was stolen on January 13, 2024, around 18:00 hours at Chanyondo Primary School during the input distribution exercise.
Mr Mweemba said in a statement that Diana Kawanda 42, an Assistant Community Development Officer at the Lundazi office reported that while she was distributing 79 packs to beneficiaries at the named school, a mob looted the last 9 packs which belonged to beneficiaries who did not turn up to receive the inputs at the time.
The looted farming inputs comprised 18 X 50 kilograms of D-Compound fertilizer, 18 X 50 kilograms of Urea fertilizer and 9 X10 kilograms of maize seed.
Police preliminary investigations established that before officers went to distribute the farming inputs, two people went round collecting money from farmers who were not on the FSP beneficiary list under the pretext that they were going to receive the inputs.
Mr Mweemba has named the two suspects as Morgan Mwale 45, of Mutanila Village in Kapichila chiefdom in Lundazi district who managed to collect K33,100 from unsuspecting farmers.
Meanwhile, Lameck Nyirongo 49 of Lwanda Village in Kapichila chiefdom is alleged to have collected K800 from farmers, a situation which forced the duo to steal the farming inputs following pressure from the farmers from whom money was obtained.
Police further picked Emmanuel Mabuka 47 of Kalulu Village in Kapichila chiefdom and Grandson Manda 28 of the same area after some looted farming inputs were found in their possession.
“Kindly be informed that the said farming inputs were recovered in full and were on January 17, 2025 disposed of by the court by handing them to the intended 9 beneficiaries while the four suspects were arrested and later released on police bond and are awaiting court appearance,” the police East Chief stated.
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