By GOLDEN MATONGA and JULIUS MBEŴE
Key Takeaways:
….The human trafficking syndicate operated with impunity by infiltrating Malawi’s political leadership across successive administrations, making payments to ruling party officials and establishing business ventures with relatives of top cabinet members.
…..Border patrol, airport personnel, and officers within the National Intelligence Service (NIS) were routinely paid off to manufacture fraudulent travel documents, facilitate entry at Kamuzu International Airport, and manage safe houses.
…..Law enforcement and intelligence commanders who led operations against the syndicate faced swift professional retaliation—including demotions, transfers to remote outposts, and removals from leadership roles—while key low-level enablers remained unprosecuted.
…..Despite initial arrests coordinated alongside American officials, the judicial case has stalled after a key informant turned hostile under apparent pressure, allowing some primary suspects to secure bail.
..…The syndicate turned Malawi into a central transit hub for moving South Asian migrants into Southern Africa, triggering international alarm from Western governments over border integrity and leading to heightened visa restrictions for Malawian travelers.
LILONGWE-(PIJ)-In February, a middle-aged man walked into the United States Embassy in Lusaka, Zambia, desperate for asylum. He told consular officers he was fleeing Malawi, where he had been working for an international human trafficking syndicate, because his boss had threatened to kill him. When embassy personnel advised him to return to Lilongwe and seek police protection, the man scoffed: “The police are involved. My boss pays them off.”
American officials assured him he would be safe and coordinated with Malawi’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) to secure his return. It was the spark that blew open a sprawling trafficking enterprise moving Pakistani and Bangladeshi migrants into Southern Africa. The subsequent investigation led to the arrest of Bahar Sumsuddin Sarker, a 55-year-old South African national of Bangladeshi origin suspected of running the ring.
Yet months later, the prosecution is going nowhere. The informant, persuaded by American officials to testify against Mr. Sarker, has turned hostile, denying any knowledge of criminal activity, according to officials close to the investigation. Meanwhile, the state security officers who built the case have been systematically demoted, purged, or transferred.
A months-long investigation by the Platform for Investigative Journalism (PIJ)—based on leaked security documents, court records, bank statements, passport photos, screenshots of WhatsApp chats, and interviews with intelligence whistleblowers—reveals how Mr. Sarker insulated his operations. Through systematic bribery, political patronage, and potential intimidation, he forged ties across successive presidential administrations, corrupting police, immigration, and intelligence agencies to turn Malawi into a major transit hub for human smuggling.
When President Peter Mutharika took the oath of office following his election victory, promising a crusade against corruption, an unfamiliar foreign national sat just rows behind him in the VIP section at Kamuzu Stadium: Mr. Sarker, dressed in a sharp dark suit. Official invitation lists and photographic records show that his proximity to power was no accident. Weeks after the inauguration, on Oct. 31, 2025, he was seen inside Parliament for the opening of the legislative session, moving comfortably among cabinet members and lawmakers.
Leaked transaction ledgers and encrypted communications indicate that Mr. Sarker played both sides of Malawi’s political aisle. Long before the 2025 general election, he cultivated influence within the administration of former President Lazarus Chakwera and his ruling Malawi Congress Party (MCP). Financial records list direct payments to senior political figures, including Maxwell Thyolera, then a special adviser to President Chakwera, and Patrick Zebron Chilondola, the MCP’s regional chairperson for the Central Region.
In separate written WhatsApp responses, both Mr. Chilondola and Mr. Thyolera denied knowing Mr. Sarker or receiving money from him. Mr. Thyolera stated: “I do not know anything of what you are talking about. And I don’t even know the person being discussed. Have you not misdirected the questions?” Mr. Chilondola said: “I don’t know the mentioned person and what he does. Thank you, Sir.”
As the election approached, Mr. Sarker hedged his bets by directing funds to key figures in the opposing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Following the DPP’s victory, he celebrated the political rise of his contacts. When Peter Mukhito was named Minister of Homeland Security—the cabinet portfolio overseeing police, immigration, and passports—Mr. Sarker messaged an associate: “Allah is Great!”
Financial logs obtained by investigators detail transactions involving individuals close to the new cabinet. In one instance, internal documents allege Mr. Sarker offered 500 million Malawian kwacha (about $290,000) to Justin Saidi, Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, in pursuit of lucrative state fuel distribution contracts. The documents do not conclude Mr. Saidi accepted the funds. Mr. Saidi denied any connections to Mr. Sarker, telling PIJ: “I do not know the person. I do not know the name. I have never interacted with the person. Mind you, during the swearing-in of HE (His Excellency) in Blantyre, I was a nobody.”
Documents show Mr. Sarker sharing bank details with an associate, purportedly for Mr. Mukhito. Later chats show deposit slips for payments made to bank accounts with the minister’s name alongside mobile money transfers, as well as payments to an individual identified as Martha Mukhito. Intriguingly, investigators who examined the case found no direct contact between Mr. Mukhito and Mr. Sarker through calls, texts, or emails.
Mr. Mukhito denied any personal connection to Mr. Sarker or receiving illicit funds, stating he personally authorized the police operation against the ring. “If I was an accomplice, I could have shut down the investigation,” Mr. Mukhito said, adding that allegations against Mr. Sarker were being independently handled by police.
Police Inspector General Richard Luhanga told PIJ that after investigations, police did not find evidence that any ministers received payments, adding there was a possibility Sarker attempted to invoke ministers’ names to abuse the relationship.
“The Minister of Homeland (Mukhito) has been very supportive of this investigation and told us to proceed with the investigation. If he were involved, he wouldn’t have acted in that manner. As we speak, Bahar has spent months on remand in prison without bail; the Minister has allowed us to investigate and prosecute the matter professionally,” Mr. Luhanga said.
Mr. Sarker’s most crucial contact appears to have been Chimwemwe Chipungu, the former Defense Minister who currently serves as Minister of Lands. In private messages, Mr. Sarker boasted that Mr. Chipungu personally secured his VIP seating at the presidential inauguration.
Sources say Mr. Sarker later launched a joint venture, IK Investments, with the minister’s brother, Godfrey Chipungu, to bid on military supply contracts for the Malawi Defence Force—specifically for foodstuff supply to Kamuzu Barracks under procurement reference no. MDF/KB/RATS/26.
Sources familiar with the investigation say Mr. Sarker expressed relief when Mr. Chipungu was appointed Defense Minister. The company also sought business from Salima Sugar Company, a public-private enterprise in which the government holds an 80 percent controlling stake. Mr. Chipungu did not respond to PIJ requests for comment.
Safe Houses and Bribed Borders
Beneath the political favors was an organized network built to smuggle Bangladeshi and Pakistani migrants into Southern Africa. Intelligence officials say migrants bound primarily for South Africa were flown to Lilongwe to bypass direct South African visa checks.
Upon arrival at Kamuzu International Airport, they were transferred to safe houses, including a primary holding site in Lilongwe’s Area 49 neighborhood. Their passports and mobile phones were confiscated while corrupt officers manufactured fraudulent Malawian visas, work permits, and travel documents.
To keep the supply line moving, Mr. Sarker maintained regular payroll accounts for border and airport personnel.
Digital forensics extracted from his phone revealed frequent exchanges with an immigration officer at Kamuzu International Airport, including one ledger item logging a mobile cash transfer to her totaling 1.26 million kwacha. “This one DG also now I am paying,” Mr. Sarker wrote in an August 2025 message to the officer, referring to an incoming director general of a state agency.
Encrypted chats show him nervously tracking government cabinet reshuffles, anxious that new appointees at border posts might disrupt his pipeline.
From Lilongwe, the syndicate funneled migrants overland into Mozambique and onward to South Africa. In one exchange from February 2025, a Mozambican handler detailed taking a group of migrants to Nampula before handing them over to drivers bound for Maputo.
The journey was often brutal. “We are still sitting at the border… There is no news?” Rofikul Islam, a Bangladeshi migrant, messaged Mr. Sarker in Bengali on Feb. 18, 2025. Mr. Sarker dismissed the concern, replying that his obligation ended once they crossed the perimeter. Three days later, Mr. Islam messaged again: “We didn’t even eat food last night.”
When rival smuggling operations encroached on his territory, Mr. Sarker used his state connections as a weapon.
Intelligence officials say that after a competing gang intercepted incoming arrivals at the airport to extort their families in Pakistan, Mr. Sarker coordinated with bribed immigration officials to have his rival arrested and deported.
When the rival illegally slipped back into Lilongwe, the feud escalated into an armed turf war. Evidence reviewed by PIJ showed weapons, restraint tools, torture instruments, and photos of men in paramilitary combat gear linked to the kidnapping ring.
An audio recording captured a close associate of Mr. Sarker, identified as Osama, interrogating a Bangladeshi national accused of a fatal shooting in South Africa regarding how he secured entry into Malawi and who facilitated his visa.
It was through these rivalries that law enforcement located and arrested Mr. Sarker at Mchesi township alongside two female intelligence officers, following a tip from a rival identified as Rizwan Farook Akbar, a Pakistani-born national.
While in the company of law enforcement, Mr. Farook was himself identified by a whistleblower as a trafficker and arrested. Security documents describe Mr. Farook as a violent gang leader linked to kidnappings within Malawi’s Asian business community.
According to the official charge sheet in Criminal Case No. 116 of 2026, Mr. Farook, 41, a Malawian national of Pakistani origin, and Mr. Sarker currently face kidnapping charges relating to the abduction of Sharif Islam in Lilongwe in September 2025.
Prosecutors say the group held Mr. Islam for a ransom of 400,000 South African rand (about $22,000)—paid by his relatives in South Africa—before unlawfully transporting him across the border. Also arrested during the intelligence-led operation were two NIS officers, Angella Msiska, 31, and Thocco Jonas, 26, alongside a man named Lawrence Kanauke, 33.
Within days of his arrest, Mr. Farook was released on bail following an appeal to the High Court by Stanley Chirwa, a prominent political attorney with close ties to the ruling DPP who serves as Board Chairperson of the state-owned Blantyre Water Board.
“Just a matter of clarification, Mr Farook (Rizwan Farook Akbar) was released by the High Court on review of the decision of the Principal Resident Magistrate’s Court to keep him in custody as there were no sufficient reasons at law to keep him in custody,” Mr. Chirwa told PIJ, denying any political interference.
Mr. Farook escaped from police custody at Phalula on April 19, according to police sources. While he was a fugitive, his brother, Salahuddin Akbar, attempted to bribe Deputy Inspector General Noel Kayira, leading to the brother’s arrest and an ongoing trial in a separate case.
“On 24th April, a brother to Farook brought 3 million (Kwacha) to Deputy Dr. Noel Kayira’s office to induce him for Farook’s protection. I am the one prosecuting the matter as well,” said Mr. Ken Mhango, who serves as a lawyer for the Malawi Police Service.
Bright Theu, defense attorney for Mr. Sarker, declined to comment extensively, noting the matter remains before the court. “Bahar Sumsudin Sarker is not answering any charges relating to human trafficking and bribery,” Mr. Theu said. “He is a co-accused with 5 others in a different case in which he was framed for alleged abduction and kidnapping. The case is still in court and trial has not even commenced.”
The Purge of the Investigators
The syndicate’s networks extended deep into state security agencies. When a syndicate associate died under unexplained circumstances in South Africa in December 2025, Mr. Sarker’s son contacted Ms.
Msiska, the NIS officer, worried about criminal exposure. Leaked text messages show Ms. Msiska reassuring him that 750,000 kwacha had been provided to the family for funeral costs and that pre-arranged legal protections for Mr. Sarker were in place.
Evidence shows NIS officers engaged Mr. Sarker to secure promotions or transfers to preferred duty stations, while WhatsApp chats show an applicant seeking employment at the Immigration Department sending a resume to Mr. Sarker to facilitate hiring. At least one member of the Malawi Defence Force is also known to have been involved in the syndicate.
For officers who attempted to dismantle the network, professional retaliation was swift. In mid-2024, Evance Kameta, an NIS station manager at the airport, intercepted three suspected human traffickers—identified by sources as Rana G, Shazeed Muhammad, and Hassan, a Bangladeshi national residing in South Africa. Shortly after making the arrests, Mr. Kameta was summarily transferred to a remote post in Kasungu.
Following the January 2026 joint operation with American authorities that resulted in Mr. Sarker’s arrest, senior commanders who led the crackdown were removed.
On Feb. 2, 2026, Emmanuel James Kambale, the Director of Counter Terrorism who spearheaded the NIS operation, was reassigned to an administrative role in the Office of the President.
Isaac Norman, Director of the Criminal Investigations Department at National Police Headquarters in Lilongwe, was demoted and transferred to a regional outpost.
Senior NIS leadership contends Mr. Kambale’s appointment was reversed by President Mutharika prior to the arrests due to previous disagreements, but other officers say Mr. Kambale had authored a memo to President Mutharika naming cabinet ministers allegedly involved with trafficking syndicates.
Law enforcement sources say that despite an extensive list of airport immigration and intelligence officers identified in state documents as paid facilitators, virtually no low-level enablers have been formally prosecuted or disciplined, except for Ms. Msiska and Ms. Jonas. The investigation also identified several accomplices within the local Asian business community who have not been arrested.
The fallout has reached diplomatic channels. Citing severe systemic corruption and compromised passport security, Western governments, including the United States, have raised alarms over Malawi’s border integrity, contributing to tighter visa restrictions and increased scrutiny on Malawian travel credentials.
Amy Petersen, a spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Lilongwe, did not respond to specific questions about the American role in the investigation but stated that “the Trump Administration has no higher priority than the safety and security of Americans.”
“The realignment of routine visa processing in sub-Saharan Africa to approximately 20 regional hubs effective August 1 strengthens U.S. national security by promoting rigorous visa screening and vetting standards,” Ms. Petersen added. “The United States works with Malawi to strengthen document issuance procedures and reduce airport and immigration vulnerabilities which create security risks including illicit travel, trafficking, and other activities that could threaten U.S. interests.”
In Lilongwe, judicial proceedings against Mr. Sarker remain deadlocked. The key witness remains silent, the lead investigators have been sidelined, and intelligence officials say the pipeline continues to flow.
Source: This article was published by the Platform for Investigative Journalism (PIJ), an independent centre for investigative journalism based in Malawi.
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