By LUCY PHIRI
A Chinese national, owner of Hussen Zambia Limited in Lusaka’s Kamwala trading centre has narrated in the Lusaka Magistrate Court how he lost goods worth K439, 870 in a blink of an eye.
Mubbarak Patel, 50, a businessman of Kamwala area, said he has been doing his business for 25 years and employed Arm Secure guards who safeguarded the warehouse very well but was surprised how his goods were stolen.
He said it was on Saturday around 17:00hours when workers knocked off and the night guards were in, but the following day in the morning they discovered one guard missing and the main gate was wide open.
“The guard called me in the morning explaining what had happened and I then rushed to the scene, where I called the forensic people to come and help in terms of knowing who stole. The matter was then reported to the police where we were told the matter was going to be investigated. And some of the properties were recovered after two days and the culprit was arrested,’’ he said.
When the matter was called, chief resident magistrate Dominic Makalicha read the charge and the accused pleaded not guilty.
It is alleged that Artwell Nyoni between December 4, 2021 and December 5, 2021 in Lusaka, with intent to steal, did break in the building namely Hussen Zambia warehouse and did steal therein items valued at K439, 870.
Nyoni allegedly stole 330x50kg bags of sugar, 48 cases of protex soap, 69 cases of Lux soap, 19×10 litters of cooking oil, double mattresses, and four cases of coca cola.
Other items are; 24 cases of tissue, 51 cases of Vatra water, 30 cases of cobra, 19 cases of diapers, 10 cases of Vaseline, four cases of mortein target, eight cases of lifebuoy soup and 27 cases of Dettol soap property of Mubbarak Patel.
The matter has been adjourned to January 27, 2022 for plea
