AFTER arresting two drug-pushing suspects from the sprawling Compound of Kamano in Mwinilunga District of Northwestern Province, three Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) officers and their seven civilian informers resorted to Olympic-style running to flee a mob angered by the operation.
After effortlessly arresting two men and bundling them on the vehicle, the officers embarked on a journey back to the office to interrogate and detain their suspects.
Unknown to the group however, was that Kamano residents angered by the arrest had mobilised to ensure that DEC does no take away the compound’s most reliable suppliers of high grade Marijuana.
As the DEC vehicle approached the exit road from compound situated 80 kilometers from Central Business District, officers noticed a mob armed with stones, axes, bow and arrows, machetes, and catapults along with other weapons in the middle of road.
As they got closer, the officers understood the intentions of the mob but determined to weed out out their suspects.
Waylayed and blocked yet determined to make it out of the compound with their suspects, the DEC driver resorted to utilize an alternative route but with the cursing and ready-to-kill mob in hot pursuit.
Slowed down by the potholed roads of the the compound, fear got the better of the driver who then leaped out of the vehicle to demonstrate a clean pair of heels leaving his frightened colleagues behind.
With the driver gone, survival instinct kicked in and the ride back to the office after a successful arrest had now turned into an olympic-style race for life pitting the DEC officials against their informers.
Unable to match the gold medal deserving sprints of their targets, the mob vented it’s anger on the abandoned vehicle slashing its tyres, smashing its windows and looted its contents before rescuing their “Weed Heroes” from the brief captivity.
For some, the fenders of the vehicle made good material foe brazier-making businesses.
In confirming the incident, Northwestern Province Police Commissioner Joel Njase said police officers later went to Kamano restore order.
After a thorough search, police officers found the trembling DEC officials and their civilian counterparts hiding in a drainage within Compound.
Commissioner Njase said a docket of malicious damage to property has been opened as investigations continue from the incident he said happened last Monday.
©Kalemba May 24, 2021
