Lusaka – Dozens of heavily armed police officers on Wednesday raided the residence of Zambia’s former president Edgar Lungu and impounded cars they said were allegedly stolen by the ex-first lady.
Police said they had “instituted investigations” following a report of theft of three vehicles and “managed to locate the properties at Mrs (Esther) Lungu’s residence” in an upmarket suburb of the capital, Lusaka.
Lungu’s wife allegedly took the vehicles – a Mitsubishi truck and two small Toyota sedans – from a woman in August last year, police said.
What happened today in Zambia where former President Edgar Lungu’s home was besieged by police with guns, cameras in tow and the use of a grinder to open his residence gate is something out of a movie.
I was taught about how irresponsible this kind of action can be when I was… pic.twitter.com/tcUe5I00tN
— Hopewell Chin’ono (@daddyhope) May 3, 2023
The victim, who was named but not further described, was made to surrender the vehicles after being driven to the ex-first lady’s residence, police spokesperson Danny Mwale said.
Scores of Lungu’s supporters mainly from the former governing Patriotic Front party descended on the house in a show of solidarity, an AFP reporter saw.
Witnesses said police used an angle grinder to force open the gate, before going in to search and seize cars parked inside Lungu’s yard.
In Zambia, heavily armed police have besieged former President Edgar Lungu’s house.
Lungu who came out after Police threatened to break his gate and doors says the Police’s search warrant is void.
The harassment of the opposition continues in Zambia under the Hichilema regime pic.twitter.com/b50pnwdur5
— mmatigari (@matigary) May 3, 2023
In a statement to the police, according to a family spokesperson, the ex-first lady said she had been given custody of the cars in lieu of hundreds of thousands of dollars she gave to a niece for safekeeping in September 2021, a month after her husband left office.
In August 2021 Lungu lost elections to President Hakainde Hichilema, who before winning the vote by a landslide was a veteran opposition leader.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Twitter/@matigary
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