POLICE FREE SUSPECTED ARSONISTS

Tue, 06 Feb 2018 07:20:50 +0000

By SENIYA BANDA

 ZAMBIA Police says the 11 suspects arrested in connection with the gutting of City Market in Lusaka have been released due to insufficient evidence.

Police spokesperson Esther Katongo confirmed to Millennium Radio that the 11 people who were arrested in connection with the  inferno have been released.

Ms. Katongo says the decision to release the suspects follows the advice by the Director Public Prosecution’s office not prosecute the suspects due to insufficient evidence.

She has however indicated that the police is still investigating the matter and will give conclusive statement once the investigations are done.

‘‘The information which we have at hand linking the people who could have done that is not enough but the investigations have not been concluded. You remember there were suspects who were apprehended but we did not have enough evidence so they were released in short we have not conclude investigations in most of the fires that happened,’’ she said

In July last year, fire swept through the market destroying property worth millions of Kwacha and left hundreds of marketeers stranded without any source of livelihood..

Inspector General of Police Kakoma Kanganja on 15th July announced that 11 suspected arsonists had been arrested in connection with the burning of the City Market.

Hundreds of marketeers at Lusaka City Market last year lost goods worth thousands of kwacha following a suspected act of arson which also affected other markets and other public places around the country.