By NATION REPORTER
THE Kenneth Kaunda International Airport gold scandal was a clear case of a scam by some Zambians working with foreign nationals with the intention of scamming the unsuspecting members of the public, the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) has clarified.
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There have been frantic efforts from government reduce the gold and millions of dollars scandal to a mare scam by claiming that the gold was in fact copper, zinc and tin.
However, Jack Mwiimbu, the Home Affairs and Internal Security who is currently in Angola was forced to issue a statement advising politicians against scandalizing President Hakainde Hichilema and his State House staff because according to him, they were not involved.
But late afternoon yesterday, the DEC called for a presser that was to be held at the Zambia Police Force Headquarters at which its director general Nason Banda claimed the gold scandal was but a scam by some Zambians in conjunction with some foreigners.
“The case at hand has been thoroughly dissected and this has been a clear case of scamming. We have a case of Gold scammers and they are plying their trade in the country. People are lying through their teeth and are trying to scandalise the efforts by the investigative wings,” Mr Banda said.
Mr Banda however could not why the aircraft carrying the contraband was allowed to taxi to the VIP pavilion and who could have allowed such kind of a transaction to be conducted in a restricted area.
He appealed to Zambians to trust the investigative wings as they were conducting their investigations and that the reason they were withholding information was because they did not want to jeopardise investigations.
Mr Banda claimed there were individuals that were trying to mislead Zambians that the aircraft had been allowed to fly out when in fact not.
He said that all the people that had been apprehended were still in custody and that the number had now increased.
Mr Banda said that the number of locals had now increased to four as more people were arrested in the course of investigations but that the figures might increase.
He said that the team was not investigating one of their own officers as purported on social media.
Mr Banda challenged reporters to carry out a fact finding mission to prove that the planes were still at KKIA.
He also said that the money confiscated was safe in the vaults at the Bank of Zambia.
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