![\"The](\"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/img\/static\/publishers\/minibanners\/timeszambia180.jpg\" "\\"Visit")
<\/a><\/p>\n17 December 2011<\/p>\n
\n
FORMER diplomat, Benedict Chikoti, the father of a woman who was recently detained in Pakistan, has been arrested by the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) on a charge of giving false information to public officers.<\/p>\n
Mr Chikoti, a former diplomat in the Second Republic, recently denied that the woman who was intercepted for drug trafficking in Pakistan was his relative.<\/p>\n
He had insisted that his daughter, Angela Busanga Chikoti, named by the DEC was happily settled in South Africa with her husband.<\/p>\n
But DEC acting spokesperson, Samuel Silomba, announced yesterday that Mr Chikoti, 68, of 18 Nyimba Road in Northrise in Ndola has been arrested for giving false information to a public officer.<\/p>\n
Mr Silomba said on November 6, this year, Mr Chikoti gave information which he knew was false to Nkweto Mfula and Aggrey Banda of the Zambia Daily Mail in the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and Tourism.<\/p>\n
‘Mr Chikoti, falsely, stated that the person that was arrested in Pakistan by the name of Angela Busanga Chikoti was not his daughter but someone who might have stolen the passport from Angela. He further went on to confirm that he had spoken to his daughter who had indicated that she was safe and happily married in South Africa.<\/p>\n
“The arrest of Mr Chikoti follows thorough investigations by the commission to ascertain the true identity of Angela Busanga Chikoti.<\/p>\n
The investigations have proved that the person arrested in Pakistan for drug trafficking is indeed Angela Busanga Chikoti, the daughter of Mr Bennedict Chikoti,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Chikoti said in Ndola yesterday that he has retracted an earlier statement in which he denied that his daughter, Angela Busanga Chikoti was not the one who was arrested in Pakistan.<\/p>\n
“I hereby withdraw my earlier statement that our Angela Busanga Chikoti was not the one involved in the case,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Chikoti said he made the earlier statement upon receiving information from his son-in-law in South Africa in which he was assured that his daughter had not been arrested.<\/p>\n
“In view of the latest position, I wish on behalf of my family to offer our apologies to all concerned particularly Zambia Daily Mail and DEC,” he said.<\/p>\n
Angela was on August 23 this year arrested at Benazir Bhutto International Airport with 97 pellets of heroine weighing 950 grammes.<\/p>\n
Mr Silomba said he had not yet received information on whether Angela had been convicted of the offence or not.<\/p>\n
AllAfrica – All the Time<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n