CID officer: Chikangawa crash site tampered with

Former Northern Region Police Headquarters Criminal Investigations Department (CID) officer Harry Mbewe has told the Parliamentary Ad-hoc Committee investigating the June 10 2024 military plane crash that the accident scene was tampered with, complicating investigations.

Now working in the Central East Region, Mbewe, who was the lead investigator, told the committee during a hearing at Sunbird Mzuzu yesterday that they found some of the bodies moved from where they were lying and placed in body bags.

“They [the team that discovered the crash site] did not wait for investigators to come. In murder cases for example, people wait for CID officers to come and see what actually happened. We take photographs, we need to see the scene as it was. But in Nthungwa we found that the scene was tampered with,” he said.

Mbewe also highlighted that investigators from the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU) undertook their probe without assistance from Malawi Police investigators, an arrangement he cited as a challenge that may have left out critical details.

But he could not describe the status of the mobile phones said to have been found close to the body of Chilima, saying he was occupied when gadgets were handed to him and ended up passing the phones to another officer.

Taking his turn, Northern Region Police Headquarters senior operations officer Christopher Mwamande said he was part of the search and rescue that was led by then Northern Region Police Commissioner Richard Luhanga, now Inspector General, and his then deputy Glinton Mitayi.

Mwamande said they found the plane wreckage with six bodies lying on the ground, stating that the rest of his testimony corroborated with earlier submissions by Luhanga and Mitayi.

Responding to a question from Lilongwe Mude member of Parliament (MP) Mphatso Boti (Malawi Congress Party), he acknowledged that he received two phones from Mitayi, but could not describe their condition, saying they were dusty and oily.

“I thought the phones were in good condition despite that they were dusty and oily. If they were broken, I would have noticed. The instruction was that I should hand over gadgets to CID officers who were yet to arrive,” said Mwamande.

Mulanje North legislator Gilbert Khonyongwa (Democratic Progressive Party) also asked Mwamande if all items recovered at the crash site were handed over to CID officers at the Raiply Limited airfield and he responded in the affirmative, adding they were bound for Lilongwe.

Earlier yesterday, Department of Civil Aviation senior fire officer Toby Khunga told the committee that his team set out for the search and rescue mission on the afternoon of June 10 2024 and that they were equipped with fire-fighting equipment and were ready for rescue.

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