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A KABWE-BASED pastor who was allegedly armed with an AK47 assault rifle and his accomplice have been arrested after a failed aggravated robbery at Lusaka’s Manda Hill Shopping Mall.
And the Kabwe District Pastors Fellowship Association (KDPFA) has disowned the pastor, saying he is masquerading as a clergyman.
Police spokesperson Charity Chanda identified the clergyman as Standwell Silundu, 35, of house number 93 Ufulu Road in Kabwe’s Lukanga Township and his accomplice as Kabwe Kamfwa, 24, of Chilenje in Lusaka.
Ms Chanda said yesterday in an interview that the duo was arrested on Friday night in Lusaka.
“This happened on Friday around 18:50 hours and this case is still under investigation because we suspect that there are other people involved,” Ms Chanda said.
Ms Chanda said the duo had been trailing a Lusaka resident who had gone to deposit money at Standard Chartered Bank at Manda Hill Shopping Mall.
She said Pastor Silundu and his accomplice abducted their victim after he deposited an undisclosed amount of money at Manda Hill Shopping Mall and took him to Northmead Shopping Centre where they forced him to withdraw an undisclosed amount of money at an automated teller machine (ATM).
She said, however, that the transactions failed because he gave the duo a fake pin number.
Ms Chanda said the duo later bundled him into their vehicle while another was following behind with his (victim’s) Jeep.
They returned to Manda Hill Shopping Mall where they forced him to enter Standard Chartered Bank.
“The other one escorted him into the bank but he alerted the bank and police pounced on him [Pastor Silundu],” she said.
Ms Chanda said the duo is in police custody in Lusaka facing a charge of aggravated robbery, and police have intensified their investigations into the matter.
And KDPFA chairman Moses Chirwa said the suspect is just masquerading as a clergyman.
“He is not a pastor, he is a masquerader and he is not under the pastors fellowship,” Reverend Chirwa said.
He warned criminals against pretending to be pastors, saying it is ungodly to drag genuine pastors in the mud.
“I can speak with authority. We don’t know that man,” Rev Chirwa said.
Bishop Moses Banda of New Life Christian Church Ministries warned people against posing as pastors when they are criminals that they risk attracting the wrath of God because God cannot be mocked.
Zambia Daily Mail
