PROBE ROBBERY SUICIDE

Written by on September 2, 2019

THE circumstances in which a 29-year-old Lusaka resident committed suicide in Lusaka’s Chazanga Site and Service residential area after he and his workmate were robbed of K60,000 cash should be investigated seriously.

Police should not relent until they lift the lid off the truth.

The elaborate manner and precision with which the bandits executed the heist point to the involvement of someone familiar with the victims’ movements and what they were carrying.

It is unfortunate that 29-year-old Jackson Mambwe could not cope with the trauma of the robbery and decided to take his own life by drinking sulphuric acid.

According to his former workmate, Masauso Phiri, the two who worked for a mobile money transfer agent, knocked off at 21:00 hours on September 23 and phoned the driver who usually took them home to go and pick them.

Mr Phiri, the supervisor, said they were carrying K60,000 cash in a bag.

Mr Mambwe was the employer’s younger brother.

The driver picked them as usual after being called and they started off.

According to Mr Phiri, when the car reached a place called Mailoni Car Park, a Toyota Regius bus suddenly cut in front and blocked them.

Six masked bandits armed with different guns came out and surrounded it.

The robbers had the audacity to introduce themselves as C5, referring to the Zambia Police Service Lusaka Division’s crack squad.

One of them broke the window of the front passenger’s door, pointed a gun at Mr Phiri and demanded money.

When he said he did not have any money the criminal ignored him. He had confirmed information that he was carrying a bag full of cash.

The moron pulled him and grabbed the bag containing K60,000 cash, after which the gang sped away leaving their victims traumatised.

Mr Mambwe was injured in the attack and received treatment at a clinic.

For a competent and experienced detective this should be a very easy case to investigate.

We suspect that one of the three occupants of the car – the driver, Mr Phiri and Mr Mambwe – had been communicating with the bandits, giving them accurate intelligence about their knock off time, he car they were using and what they were carrying in the bag.

Or someone very, very close to one of them could have gathered the intelligence and fed it to the robbers.

The driver, for example, should answer a few questions.

How did the robbers know the route he was going to use and the people he was carrying?

They waylaid his car at a carefully selected spot where it was easy to block it with their Toyota Regius.

Mr Phiri should also answer the same questions.

Someone who knew what he was carrying and the amount must have tipped the robbers.

The same person must have alerted them that the car was now starting off, giving the number of people it was carrying and what they were carrying.

It could also be one of Mr Phiri and Mr Mambwe’s workmates who was very familiar with the way he team operated, how much money it collected each day, the time they knocked off and the mode of transport they used after knocking off.

The involvement of Mr Mambwe himself should not be ruled out.

There is a possibility that he might have connived with the robbers and when he realised that police were about to sniff his role in the heist and lock him up he might have decided to take his life.

Mr Mambwe’s relatives should not just point their suspicions at Mr Phiri; that he might have connived with the bandits and caused the death of their relative.

They should also look at what role Mr Mambwe himself might have played.

Anyway, these are mere speculations but they can help police to put pieces together and narrow the radius of their search for a lead.

A promising life has been lost, and it should not be lost in vain.


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