Creamland owners arrested

PROPRIETORS of Creamland have been arrested for dumping dangerous waste in an undesignated place in Lusaka’s Matero Township. Mohammed Patel and Saidi Goram, who run an Ice cream parlour along Cairo Road, were picked by the police at the scene of crime on Saturday afternoon. Lusaka Province Police Commissioner Joyce Kasosa said Mr Patel and Mr Goran have been charged with an offence of public nuisance contrary to the Laws of Zambia. This comes against a backdrop of complaints by members of the public that some organisations and individuals have been dumping waste in undesignated areas, thereby making Lusaka untidy. Lusaka has a designated dumping site in Chunga area, but some people had been dumping in wrong places, a practice which is against the Public Health Act. The illegal practice is also against the Environmental Management Act No. 12 of 2011. The business executives who were arrested by Matero police officers have since been released on police bond. Ms Kasosa said the duo was likely to be charged with more offences on environmental matters and added that they would appear in court today. “I can confirm two businessmen have been arrested after the police found their workers at an undesignated place trying to dump liquid waste. They will appear in court today,” she said. The two directors were arrested following a tip off from members of the public who spotted a truck heading towards an undesignated area carrying drums containing liquid waste. “They saw people removing containers suspected to have been filled with liquid substance and immediately reported them to Matero police station. “I must also thank alert members of the public who assisted the police to arrest the duo, this is what we expect because the police officers cannot manage to be patrolling all the places,” she said. Meanwhile, Ms Kasosa has cautioned taxi drivers to be alert as they operate following increased murders. She said the onus was on operators to be security conscious during work hours to avoid bookings to far-flung areas. “In the recent incident involving a taxi driver at Downtown mall whose head was chopped off, he was offered a lot of money compared to the distance, these are some of the indications of suspicion,” she said. She said taxi drivers should always operate with co-workers as a safety measure.