Former President Peter Mutharika’s stepson Tadikira Mafubza has been charged with human trafficking following his arrest in relation to a mass grave containing bodies of Ethiopian migrants.
Mafubza who was arrested on Wednesday is expected to appear before Lilongwe Magistrate’s today where he will be formally charged.
Reports indicate that Mafubza is linked to the vehicle which was used to transport the migrants.
Police have also arrested the driver who was driving the vehicle which is suspected to have been used to transport the migrants and dump their bodies in Mtangatanga Forest Reserve in Mzimba
According to Mafubza’s lawyer Gilbert Khonyongwa, the driver Sam Naveya told police during interrogations that Mutharika’s stepson was not aware of the kind of business the driver was doing.
Khonyongwa said Mafubza only knew about the alleged transportation of migrants when he was called to the police.
Police Spokesperson Peter Kalaya
said Police have evidence that Mafubza is connected to the mass grave.
Last month, 30 bodies of the suspected victims of human trafficking were exhumed at Mtangatanga Forest in Mzimba.
Authorities are yet to release results of autopsies which were conducted to find out the cause of the death of the migrants.
Tadikira Mafubza is a son of Mutharika’s wife, Gertrude Mutharika, whom he married in 2014.
Earlier this month, Mutharika told a press conference at his residence in Mangochi district that he was shocked at the government’s silence following the discovery of the dead bodies.
Mutharika said Malawians and the international community deserved to know what happened.
