Police in Kasungu, Malawi have reportedly intercepted 410 bags of subsidised fertilizer destined for neighbouring Zambia.
A source in the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) said the fertiliser was found behind a house belonging to the son of a village headman after a tip off from the public.
"Some people in the area were surprised at the number of the bags so they tipped us. When we got to the house we recovered 410 bags of fertilisers, out of the over 600 bags that were said to have been dropped off at the house by a truck allegedly on its way to Zambia," the source said.
He said preliminary investigations have revealed that the fertiliser belonged to the Smallholder Fertilizer Revolving Fund, the national fertiliser subsidy programme.
The fertiliser has since been impounded and is being kept at Kasungu Police Station.
Recently, the opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) asked government and the police to be on guard against flaws during the distribution of this year's farm inputs. The subsidy programme, credited with producing a bumper maize harvest in Malawi this past season, has been dogged by allegations of favouritism, theft and other kinds of impropriety.
Nyasa Times
