Police in Lilongwe have warned motorists against unnecessary parking on the newly constructed Lilongwe City West bypass road especially at night to avoid being attacked by thieves.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Malawi News Agency (Mana), Public Relations Officer for Lilongwe Model Police Kingsly Dandaula sounded the alarm after noticing that four out of ten attacks on the road involved couples who had parked along the 13 kilometer bypass road.
“It has come to our attention that some criminals are taking advantage of the newly constructed bypass road to attack motorist especially at night. They are also attacking couples who park there for no good reason,” said Dandaula.
Dandaula said the police have since intensified patrols and sensitisation meetings with members of the community to enhance security around the road.
“We have so far had a series of sensitisation meetings using funds from National Roads Authority with communities along the road on the dangers of sand-mining, damaging of road signs and attacking motorists. The meetings have resulted in the empowerment of community policing which is yielding positive results,” said Dandaula.
The PRO gave an example of how members of community policing forum on Friday had reported to police officers on patrol about a group of people who had blocked the road using stones.
We rushed to the scene but we were unable to catch them. A week ago, we also arrested several sand-miners who had set a camp along the bypass road and have charged them with malicious damage to road infrastructures. We also suspect them to be part of the group that is attacking motorists along the road,” said Dandaula.
