By JULIUS PHIRI –
FOUR people have been picked up in Paramount Chief Mpezeni’s area in Chipata for their alleged involvement in the illegal cutting and selling of Mukula trees.
The four were picked up on Thursday by Police in the company of Paramount Chief Mpezeni, who ambushed the traders in their respective villages.
The four, who include two headmen, have since been arrested.
The headmen are believed to have been instructing their subjects to cut down the trees and facilitating the smuggling of the logs across the border into Malawi.
Meanwhile, Chief Mpezeni has appealed to Eastern Province commissioner of police Grace Chipalila to mount check points on all porous roads leading to Malawi.
The traditional leader said that such a move would curtail illegal smuggling of the Mukula tree.
But when reached for a comment, Ms Chipalila declined to comment on the matter.
