Maize Market Photo Published by The Zambian Daily Mail
Police in Zambia are holding a Tanzanian maize dealer in custody, after he was found among six people possessing fake Zambian currency notes, the Kwacha.
A report in the Zambian Daily Mail, which does not say how the Tanzanian got access to the fake notes, says police in the Zambian northern province arrested the Tanzanian for allegedly trying to buy maize using the fake money. Joseph Sichone is among six people who have been arrested in separate incidents for allegedly being in possession of 21 fake K100 notes amounting to K2,100.
Northern Province Commissioner of Police Charity Katanga said in an interview that the incidents happened on Thursday [July 10, 2014] and Friday [July 11, 2014] in Mbala and Kasama. Sichone, 27, of Tuna village in Tanzania was arrested on Friday in Chileshe village, Mbala, after he allegedly tried to buy maize using fake money.
The Zambia Tanzania border exists only as an international legal formality. Rukwa and Mbeya regions in southern Tanzania are culturally and economically linked to Zambia with the Nyamwanga and Nyiha tribes found in both countries in equally significant numbers.
In 1993, the Zambia and Tanzanian total number of Nyamwanga people was estimated to be 256,000, with 169,000 residing in Zambia and 87,000 in Tanzania. The Nyamwanga language is similar to the Mambwe language spoken by the Mambwe people of Mbala and Mpulungu districts in northern Zambia and the Lungu people also found in Isoka.
The Nyiha are an ethnic and linguistic group based in Mbeya Region, Tanzania and northeastern Zambia. In 1993 the total Nyiha population in the two countries was estimated to number 626,000, of which 306,000 were in Tanzania and 320,000 were in Zambia.
The Northern Province Commissioner of Police said Sichone had K700 fake notes and tried to buy maize from Kerby Sikazwe around 18:00 hours.
“Fortunately, the victim noticed that the money was fake and he alerted police officers who went and apprehended the suspect,” Ms Katanga said.
In Kasama, Joshua Chisanga, 32, of Zamtel complex; George Bwalya 31, of Mulenga Hills; Noreen Lunde, 37, and Paul Chisenga, both of Musenga village; and Nicholas Simbeye, 40, of Lukashya, were arrested around 17:00 hours on Thursday for being in possession of 14 K100 counterfeit notes.
She said the five were arrested during a joint operation with the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) in Kasama town centre. She said all the counterfeit money has been recovered and the suspects are detained in police custody pending further investigations.
