Police at Area 3 in Lilongwe have arrested a 39-year-old Indian national for illegally being found in possession of 600 Agricultural Input Program (AIP) Urea fertilizer bags, each weighing 50 kilograms, at Lilongwe Cold Storage offices on Tuesday, February 13, 2024.
The suspect has been identified as Yusuf Badat.
According to Lilongwe Police public relations officer Inspector Hastings Chigalu, on the said date at around 17:00 hours, Lilongwe Police detectives received a tip off that a truck was loading fertilizer under the Malawi Government’s fertilizer subsidy program (AIP), suspected to have been unlawfully obtained.
“Following receipt of the information, detectives invaded the Cold Storage offices at Chinsapo 1, where they found a 30 tonner truck registration number NS 6944/NS 5161, loading the said property labelled Malawi Government, Not for Sale.
“After police confronted the driver of the truck who was about to leave the scene with the fertilizer for Chimwemwe Farm in Mchinji, he revealed the identity of the suspect (Badat) to be the owner of the property.
“Then police swiftly moved in to arrest the suspect and seized the fertilizer,” he said
Meanwhile, Yusuf Badat (suspect), is in police custody as detectives have intensified investigations to establish as to where, and how he obtained the property.
