Two men arrested as Lilongwe police find 190 kg of cannabis in a house
Police in Lilongwe arrested two men on 10 August 2026 after finding 10 bales and 23 packets of cannabis weighing 190 kg in a house in Area 25. Officers said the men had no licence to keep or sell it; one allegedly told them the cannabis came from Eswatini and was bound for Tanzania.
Police in Lilongwe arrested two men on 10 August 2026 after finding 190
kilograms of cannabis in a house in Area 25.[1]The suspects are Shadreck
Maganga, 41, from Chipoka Village under Traditional Authority Mwanyenga in
Phalombe district, and Ben David Mkosi, 36, from Yotamu Ziba Village under
Traditional Authority Chindi in Mzimba district.[1]
Officers from the Central West Regional Police team and Kanengo detectives acted
on information that people were keeping and selling illicit drugs in the area and
raided a house in Sector 7.[1]A search found 10 bales and 23 packets of
Cannabis Sativa weighing 190 kilograms.[1]The men could not produce documents
authorising them to possess or sell the drug, police said, and were charged with
being found in possession of cannabis without a licence.[1]
During interrogation, Maganga allegedly told police that the cannabis originated
in Eswatini and entered Malawi in refrigerated trucks, was repackaged into empty
fuel tankers and was to be transported to Tanzania.[1]The seized cannabis was
sent to Chitedze Research Station for laboratory analysis.[1]Police said the
men would appear in court after the necessary legal processes were completed.[1]
Photos and video
The two suspects with the cannabis seized in Area 25, Lilongwe, in a photo published by Malawi24. The page gives no photo credit.Photo details
Only one full report of the arrest could be found; the Malawi News Agency's Facebook post repeats the same figures and suspects, but no article page was found.
No court date, plea or outcome was reported; police said the men would appear in court after the necessary legal processes.
The cannabis had not been confirmed by laboratory analysis; police sent it to Chitedze Research Station.
The account that the cannabis came from Eswatini and was being taken to Tanzania comes from one suspect's statement to police and was not independently confirmed.
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 at an adhoc roadblock at Phalula, Balaka, stopped a KelFoods company van travelling from Lilongwe to Blantyre on 23 October 2026 and found 26 bags of chamba hidden under 135 bags of maize and egg crates. Driver George Benson, 41, said he loaded the cannabis at Chilanga, Kasungu, for delivery to a woman in Blantyre.
Salima police destroyed about five tonnes of cannabis sativa at Senga Bay on 28 January 2026, burning the drugs under the Police Act and Dangerous Drugs Act provisions that allow disposal of seized drugs after six months with no arrests or claims. The cannabis had been intercepted in roadblocks and stop-and-search operations along major roads.
Kasungu police and the magistrate court burned about two and a half tonnes of Indian hemp, most of it confiscated from three men stopped with 13 bags of chamba at Kalenga Trading Centre in August 2015. The three had been convicted and fined K50,000 each, and the burned pile also included consignments seized at two roadblocks whose owners were never traced.
Arrested 3Convicted 3of it destroyed 2.5 tFine MWK 50,000