Four people have been arrested in Blantyre after they decorated flower bouquets with Malawi Kwacha banknotes.
The suspects were arrested during an operation conducted by fiscal police in liaison with Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) investigators.
RBM Senior Investigation Officer, Emmanuel Malasa has told the local media that other suspects were also arrested in Lilongwe over the same issue.
The suspects will appear in court soon to answer charges of damaging and unlawful use of currency, contrary to Section 54 Subsection 2c of the RBM Act 2018.
But some Malawians have argued that the suspects did not commit a crime since the banknotes were not folded in a way that they could be damaged.
“What crime have they committed?” asked law lecture Sundu Madise in a Facebook post.
“The money is well covered and arranged, the folding is no more than would happen in a pouch,” said Margaret Mwanjani Ganje Sikwese on Madise’s post.
While Atuweni Juwayeyi-Agbermodji commented: “A waste of resources…instead of seizing assets of real criminals. Wonders shall never end.”
