Malawi magistrate and nine court and police staff bailed over 84 missing bags of chamba
A Lilongwe court granted bail to Ntcheu magistrate Stanford Majoni and nine other judicial and police officers accused of failing to account for 84 bags of cannabis held as court exhibits. They were ordered to report weekly to Ntcheu police, pay 10,000 kwacha each and stay in the district, and the case was adjourned to 18 January 2016.
Lilongwe Chief Resident Magistrate Courtgranted bail to Ntcheu Third Grade
Magistrate Stanford Majoni and nine other judicial and police officers accused
of theft by a public servant and conspiracy to steal.[1]State prosecutor
Assistant Commissioner Levison Mangani told the court that the accused worked as
a magistrate, district court administrator, security guard, court clerk,
accounts assistant and court marshals.[1]Mangani said they had 84 bags of
cannabis sativa, known in Malawi as chamba, in their custody as exhibits and
could not produce them or account for them.[1]
Chief Resident Magistrate Ruth Chinangwa granted bail on condition that the
accused report to Ntcheu police weekly, produce one non-cash surety of 10,000
kwacha, pay 10,000 kwacha in cash, surrender travel documents and not leave
Ntcheu district without police clearance.[1]The defence asked for the
hearings to be moved to Ntcheu for transport reasons, but Chinangwa refused and
told them the case should be finished within four sittings.[1]The court
adjourned the case to 18 January 2016.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Charged
10
Agency type
Police, Court
Activity
Possession
Charges
theft by public servant; conspiracy to steal
Case stage
Charged
Region
Lilongwe District
Date
Approximate
Sources
Nyasa Timesnyasatimes.comBail granted to Magistrate arrested over marijuana: Two Malawi judicial officers also released
Open questions the AI reported
The hearing happened on a Monday but is dated only by the article's publication on 6 January 2016, a Wednesday; 4 January 2016 is used as its date.
The article gives no count of the accused; the ten people it names are counted, while the headline reports two judicial officers were also released.
The 84 bags of cannabis are given no weight, and the source does not say whether any later count or testing established one.
No plea, evidence ruling or final sentence is reported for the theft charges.
The jobs listed by the prosecutor are not assigned to individual accused.
The outcome of the adjournment to 18 January 2016 and any later court ruling were not reported in the opened source.
Only one source, a Mana agency copy published by Nyasa Times, could be found for this event.
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.
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.
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.
