Castel Malawi boss arrested as 59 chamba plants seized in Blantyre
Police in Blantyre arrested Castel Malawi Limited chief Herve Milhad on 8 April 2022 for allegedly growing cannabis at his Kabula Heights home, seizing 5 grams and uprooting 59 plants. He was granted police bail the same day pending laboratory verification and a court appearance.
Police in Blantyre arrested Castel Malawi Limited Managing Director Herve Milhad
on the morning of Friday 8 April 2022 on allegations of cultivating chamba, the
local name for cannabis.[1]Milhad was granted police bail later on that same
Friday.[1]Police said he would appear in court on the following Tuesday or
Wednesday, once Bvumbwe Research Station had completed a test to verify that the
herb was cannabis.[1]
Officers who raided his residence alleged that they found five grams of Indian
hemp, locally called chamba, in his bedroom.[1]Police also alleged that he
was illegally cultivating chamba in his vegetable garden at Kabula Heights in
Blantyre.[1]Officers who raided his residence on Friday 8 April 2022 uprooted
59 plants of the herb he was allegedly growing illegally.[1]
The account was given by Beatrice Mikuwa, deputy police spokesperson for the
South West Division, describing the bedroom seizure, the garden cultivation and
the raid.[1]At the time of the 9 April 2022 account, the laboratory
verification was still pending, so no charge, plea or court outcome had yet been
reported.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
1
Plants destroyed
59
Cannabis
5 g
Agency type
Police
Cannabis
Herbal cannabis (5 g); Living plants (59 plants)
Activity
Cultivation, Possession
Setting
Home
Case stage
Under investigation
Region
Southern Region
Sources
Nyasa Timesnyasatimes.comPolice grants bail Castel Malawi MD arrested over suspected chamba cultivation
Open questions the AI reported
The incident date of 8 April 2022 is inferred because the 9 April 2022 article says the arrest, raid and bail all happened on Friday, which was 8 April.
No second independent account of the arrest, raid or bail could be opened; web searches for the executive's name, Kabula Heights and the 59 plants found no accessible corroboration.
No charge, plea, fine or sentence had been reported at publication; the court date depended on Bvumbwe Research Station verification whose result was not in this account.
Police in Dedza arrested 46-year-old Mayamiko Empraim on suspicion of supplying chamba to three pupils aged 13 to 15 at Kapalamula Primary School. He was in custody and expected to face a charge of possessing cannabis sativa after a school outreach programme led to the report.
Police arrested four people aged 17 to 27 during a sweeping exercise in Balaka Township on 31 October 2026 for possessing cannabis sativa without a licence. Two were found with loose cannabis and 15 twists in a plastic lid; two with loose cannabis in glass bottles and two packets of hemp rolling papers. All four, from Traditional Authority Nsamala, will appear in court.
Malawi police arrested David Chikomeni Chirwa, a board member of the Cannabis Regulatory Authority, and Storm Kandodo at the Jenda roadblock on the night of 6 August 2026 after finding 19.2 kg of cannabis they could not show a permit for. Chirwa was granted bail at his first court appearance the next day.
Police in Kasungu arrested three women on a Tuesday in October 2020 after separate searches found each travelling with bags of cannabis sativa, locally called chamba or Indian hemp. Two were stopped at a roadblock at Chasazima and the third at the Kasungu Prison junction, and all three were to appear in court on possession charges.
