Malawian police arrest ex-president’s stepson on human trafficking charges

Malawian police have arrested the stepson of former President Peter Mutharika in connection with the discovery last month of a mass grave, which contained 30 bodies believed to be those of illegal Ethiopian immigrants.

Tadikira Mafubza who is a son of former President Peter Mutharika’s wife, turned himself in to police, according to the Malawian police.
The 30 bodies were exhumed from a mass grave in Mtangatanga forest in Mzimba district on 18 November, 2022.

The police said the arrest, the first since the discovery of the mass grave, is a result of the investigation they are conducting. “We have arrested him because we have evidence that he is connected to the case that we are investigating, which is to do with a mass grave that was found in Mzimba district, where 30 bodies of suspected victims of human trafficking, supposed to be Ethiopians, were exhumed,” Peter Kalaya, the spokesperson for the Malawi Police Service, said.

Some local media reports indicate police also impounded a vehicle used to transport suspected Ethiopian immigrants being trafficked to South Africa. “At the moment I will not be able to confirm or deny that because any information to do with that, I am afraid, might jeopardize the stage of our investigation,” Kalaya added.

In the preliminary police investigation, authorities found temporary travel documents with the names and nationalities of the deceased. Police also found SIM cards of Ethiopian mobile phone network providers.

Malawi Police have arrested five people in connection to the death of the 30 suspected victims of human trafficking.

All the suspects have already been charged and were due to appear in court Friday, 25 November 2022 in Lilongwe to answer for murder, human trafficking and other related charges.

Kalaya added in his statement that the collected evidence connects all the five suspects to the case and points to the role each one played and has since impounded two vehicles in connection to the case.

Currently, police are still investigating the matter to arrest other suspects who are at large and has also reviewed that a preliminary autopsy report on the dead bodies reveals that the victims died due to suffocation.