Police at Jenda in Mzimba have arrested three men for allegedly vandalising, stealing and selling Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) property.
Jenda Police’s publicist, MacFarlen Mseteka, identifies the suspects as Manyani Fagayi Shaba, Joel Joseph Zikiele and Marko Banda.
According to Mseteka, Shaba is in the cooler for maliciously damaging an Escom transformer at Kavinkhama and stealing a 19-metre-long copper wire.
The two other suspects, Zikiele and Banda, were apprehended because they received the stolen wire.
The arrests follow a complaint by ESCOM officials that led to investigations and erection of ad-hoc roadblocks where law enforcers intercepted a motor vehicle driven by the first suspect, who was found with copper wire weighing 10 Kilogrammes.
Shaba confessed that he was behind vandalism of several of Escom transformers such as Champhira, Kaufipa Primary School and Jenda transformers and named his buyers who were swiftly arrested.
He has since been charged with vandalizing electricity installation equipment or apparatus, which is against section 45 subsection 2 (d) of the Electricity Act.
On the other hand, Zikiele and Banda have been charged with with receiving property suspected of being stolen, contrary to section 328 subsection 1 of the penal code.
All three suspects will be taken to court soon to answer their charges.
