POLICE yesterday shot dead four criminals in two separate incidents recorded in Kitwe and Lusaka.
In Kitwe, Police shot dead three suspected notorious criminals who have allegedly been terrorising residents for some time now.
Copperbelt Police commanding officer, Antonneil Mutentwa, confirmed the Kitwe incident which happened around 13: 000 hours in Buchi Township .
He said the three criminals were allegedly behind a spate of crimes that were taking place in most townships in Kitwe.
“We have killed three notorious criminals in an exchange of fire with them. We were tipped by members of the public and our men moved in and killed them,” Mr Mutentwa said.
He said the criminals had been on Police wanted list for over a month and commended the members of the public for working with the Police in tracking down the trio.
Mr Mutentwa said Police recovered an M 63 rifle from the criminals and revealed that the fire arm was grabbed from a police officer in Garneton residential area by the same gang.
“The three criminals grabbed the big rifle from a police officer in Garneton residential area about a month ago. They grabbed the fire arm from the Police officer,” he said.
Mr Mutentwa said the criminals were recently released from Kamfinsa State Prison.
The bodies of the criminals are lying in the Kitwe Central Hospital mortuary.
“We would like to thank the general public for their continued support. We appreciate very much the support we continue receiving from them. We know that our work can be somehow difficult without their participation,” Mr Mutentwa said.
And an unidentified man was killed about 500 metres away from the house a suspected gang of criminals broke into and stole household goods worth millions of Kwacha. The incident happened around 02:00 hours yesterday.
Eye witnesses said the suspected thief was killed by police who rushed to the scene of the robbery after a tip from members of the community.
A check by a Daily Mail crew that rushed to the scene of the shooting found blood spots on the ground near a makeshift stall where the deceased’s body laid for several hours before being picked by the police around 09:00 hours.
The suspected criminals broke into House Number 01/39 John Laing-Makeni area between 01:00 hours and 01:45 hours and stole several household goods.
Beauty Pikani, 15, the daughter of Mr Dlamini Pikani who is a truck driver and owner of the house the thieves broke into, told the Daily Mail that the criminals stole two television sets, three DVD players, a radio set, home theatre, K150,000 cash and her mother’s cell phone.
Beauty said when she and other family members heard the four criminals breaking the front door of the house, her mother advised everyone to remain sleeping and not to shout for fear of being killed.
She said few minutes after the thieves started getting the goods out of the house, a gun shot was heard.
The suspected criminals then rushed out of the house and in the process dropped some household goods which included a duvet and groceries.
The rest of the stolen items had already been packed in a vehicle which the criminals had left some metres away from the house.
Mrs Pikani could not be reached for a comment as she had rushed to a nearby police post to report the incident.
Mr Pikani was still in South Africa where he had gone for work.
When contacted for a comment, Lusaka police commanding officer, Greenwell Ng’uni, said he had not received any report regarding the shooting incident following the robbery.
Mr Ng’uni however said one person died on the spot on Kafue road near the Castle Shopping Complex in a hit and run road traffic accident while the other sustained injuries.
The incident occurred between 24:00 hours and 02:00 hours and the driver of the vehicle was still unidentified.
Mr Ng’uni said eye witnesses told the police that they could not remember the registration number of the vehicle which was involved in the accident.
Police are still investigating the matter.
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