Cops in fist fight, police unit closed

Four “drunk” Malawi police officers at Khama Police Unit in Blantyre’s Machinjiri Township a week ago threw their professionalism aside and engaged in a fist fight in public, Southern Region Police Headquarters has confirmed.

The fight provoked the public, who descended on the unit and demolished it using stones and whatever they laid their hands on, leading to its closure.

Southern Region Police Headquarters spokesperson Nicholas Gondwa confirmed the closure of the unit in an interview yesterday.

He disclosed that four drunk officers were involved in the fist fight in full view of the public. Gondwa said three were in police uniform whereas the fourth was in civilian attire.

Gondwa said: “They were drinking beer at a nearby bar and, as they walked back to the police unit, they picked a quarrel. Three were in police uniform and one was in civilian clothes.

“When the fight broke, they were two against two. Members of the public thought the police officers were fighting a civilian because of the officer who was not in uniform. They got angry, mobilised themselves and descended on them to rescue the officer they thought was a civilian.”