The Zambia National Services – ZNS – Officer believed to have shot and killed the 15-year-old boy of Kankoyo township of Mufulira District on the Copperbelt last year, seems to have gone scot–free as there has been no official statement and arrest made so far regarding this matter.
On the 20th of November last year 2023, a 15-year-old boy from Kankoyo township in Mufulira District in the Copperbelt province was allegedly shot dead by ZNS officers during an anti-mealie Meal smuggling operation.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times -ZBT, Copperbelt police Commissioner Peacewell Mwemba has confirmed that indeed no arrests have so far been made as investigations have not yet concluded even after two solid months since the incident happened.
This has caused panic among family members of the juvenile and some concerned members of the general public who seem to be losing confidence in the investigative wings and wondering whether the investigation findings have truly not yet been concluded and if all the suspects will be arrested.
Asked why the case has taken longer than expected when there is a clue of the suspects, Mwemba denied the case having any clues of the suspects adding that the fact that the suspects are ZNS officers makes it tricky to tell who exactly they are.
“We are almost there, we are almost concluding with the investigations and anytime we shall be able to inform the public. We are working on the same issue. As for Kankoyo, we are almost there. The suspect was not known. ZNS is an institution which makes it a bit tricky to tell who the suspect was. But we are almost there,” said Mwemba.
Meanwhile, an impeccable source who is an official in charge of firearms (armorer) in one of Zambia’s defense forces has revealed to ZBT that all defense forces have records of all officers sent on armed operations and are recorded in a book known as an armory register.
The source also revealed that in the armory register, records such as the names of the officers sent on armed operations, the type of firearms, their serial numbers, and the number of ammunition or bullets each firearm contains are all recorded in the aforementioned register.
The source further revealed that in a situation where an officer is found with missing ammunition in their firearm, a report on where and why the bullets were used is required for submission for such an officer.
“For record purposes what happens is that when officers are sent out on an operation which requires them to be armed, their names are recorded in the armory book by the armorer together with the type of the firearm and its serial number and the number of ammunition or bullets the firearm contains. When officers are back from the operation, they are required to submit the firearms to the armorer who receives the guns and also counter checks if the firearms that officers were issued with are the right firearms they have submitted depending on the firearms serial numbers,” the source revealed.
“The armorer also requests all officers to remove all the acumination from the bag used to carry extra acumination to authenticate whether there are some officers who used some acumination of which when one is found with missing ammunitions, they are required to make an explanation to the armorer on the missing ammunitions. So if an officer used some aminations, then they are required to submit a report on where and why the bullets were used and that report is filled for accountabilities sake,” revealed the source.
It however remains unknown as to why the investigations on the death of the juvenile have dragged on when there are all records of information in place.
