THEFTS ROCK SILVEREST

NOEL IYOMBWA writes

GANGS of armed thieves on Thursday night went on rampage and robbed six residents of Silverest area in Chongwe district of properties believed to be worth thousands of Kwacha.

The thieves reportedly got away with car batteries, distributors, tyres and whatever valuables they could find in the parked cars.

The matter was reported to Chalimbana Police Station situated about 3km away.

In an interview, one of the victims, Mr Newton Sibanda, said on Thursday morning his son woke up so that he could drop his sister at the bus station but discovered that the car bonnet was open and the  battery was missing among other items.

It was at this point that Mr. Sibanda posted on the neighborhood WhatsApp group but was shocked that other five houses had also been broken into and valuables stolen.

Mr. Sibanda called on the authorities to consider constructing a police post because the nearest one was in Chalimbana.

He said that when the place was opened up for development some time back, there was a plot allocated for social amenities such as a police post,   clinic and other facilities but that had been given to individuals to develop..

Mr. Sibanda said that piece 0f land should be given back to the community so that a police post could be constructed to step crime which was on the rise in the area.

“We are really concerned with the poor state of security in this area so our appeal is for the construction of a police post because the nearest one is in Chalimbana which is quite far. We had a plot allocated for a police post and a clinic but for some unknown reasons it has been given to individuals. We would really be happy if it was given back to the community,” he said.

Another victim, Kenneth Chanda said on the fateful night some thieves entered his yard and stole valuables from his parked vehicle.

He said there was need to consolidate the neighborhood watch in the area and a police post should be constructed because thieves were taking advantage of police absence to rob people and the situation was getting worse every day.

And a female victim who opted to be anonymous said apart from losing car components she also lost some undisclosed sum of money which she left in the vehicle.

She said that there was need for the area to have a police post now that the population had increased.

Mr Victor Kangwa, another resident in the area, also voiced the need for a police post to be urgently built in the area.

“We definitely need a police post here because the area is no longer safe,” he said.