Days after the Malawi Government issued a ban on minibus touts, police in Blantyre have arrested over 40 callboys.
Confirming the development to Malawi24 was Blantyre police public relations officer Sub Inspector Peter Mchiza who said the men in uniform launched the exercise on Monday 15 November, 2021.
Sub-Inspector Mchiza said the exercise is in line with the Malawi Government’s vision of providing a conducive environment for passengers who he said for so long have been victimized by the call boys.
He said the ugly part of the matter is that most of the call boys are involved in criminal activities including theft and harassing passengers when boarding minibuses, a development he said should not be condoned anymore.
“We are arresting these call boys. Touting is an offense and these call boys took an advantage of police’s silence on the matter, but we say the honeymoon is over. Everyone found touting will be arrested. Reaching this far, over forty call boys have been arrested.
“The main reason behind this exercise is to create a conducive environment to passengers. Everyone knows what these boys do when one is boarding a minibus. Passengers are victimized, others lost their luggage. In short, some of them are thieves, so we want to deal with that,” said Mchiza.
The publicist further indicated that there is no law in Malawi that allows minibus touts or call boys to be collecting money from operators in bus depots.
Sub Inspector Mchiza continued to say: “This is not a one-day operation, no. We will not get tired of conducting this exercise on a daily basis because we want to bring sanity among operators and passengers and in the process reducing crime rate in the city.”
He then concluded by warning the call boys not to attempt any sort of violence regarding the matter claiming both uniformed and civilian police officers are being involved in the operation.
