Police burn over three tonnes of chamba in Nkhotakota reserve
Nkhotakota police burned more than three tonnes of Indian hemp accumulated between June and December 2019 inside the Nkhotakota Game Reserve, in an exercise witnessed by the district council, the magistrate's court and the media. The hemp had been seized at the district roadblock, on uncharted routes and in homes.
🇲🇼 Nkhotakota Game Reserve, Nkhotakota District · Malawi
Nkhotakota police destroyed Indian hemp worth over three tonnes on Tuesday 25 February 2020, burning it inside the Nkhotakota Game Reserve.[1]The hemp had been confiscated between June and December 2019 at the Nkhotakota roadblock, on uncharted routes and in homes, among other places.[1]
The exercise was witnessed by the Nkhotakota district council, the magistrate’s court and the media, and the hemp was burned using diesel and petrol.[1]Police described it as a routine exercise carried out once confiscated hemp accumulates in their stores.[1]
Photos and video
Confiscated chamba burning in the Nkhotakota Game Reserve during the destruction exercisePhoto details
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.
Ntcheu police uprooted about 500 cannabis plants in Njolomole Village in late February 2026 after residents tipped off officers; three suspected growers fled before the operation ended. The clearance came days after officers destroyed another cannabis field in nearby Wanyemba Village.
Nkhotakota police burned five tonnes of confiscated chamba at a dumpsite near the Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve, hemp accumulated since mid-2017. The district registers at least one smuggling case a week, and police say the lakeshore road is a favoured traffickers' route.
Nkhotakota police and game officers uprooted and burned about three acres of Indian hemp planted inside the Nkhotakota Game Reserve along the Likowa River. Officers also found further large chamba fields nearby that they had yet to act on, and no arrests were reported.