A SYNDICATE of eleven, among them an employee of ISON a company contacted by airtel mostly for customer service has been arrested for stealing money out people’s mobile and bank accounts after tempering with their Personal Identity Number(PIN) Codes.
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According to Police there has been rampant cases of victims complaining about thefts of mobile phones of which once lost their money would be illegally withdrawn from their mobile money wallets and commercial banks.
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Working on this information the National Cyber Security Task Force comprising of Police, Anti-Corruption Commission, Drug Enforcement Commission and Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA) apprehended the first six who gave leads that later led to the arrest of other accomplices.
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And like popcorn under fire, the rest of the suspects started to pop up after interrogating the six.
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The names of the six arrested includes Ernest Mwewa, 21 of Kabanana, Peter Bwalya, 28 of house number 2734 Mumbwa road, Rodgers Makanya, 31 of Kabanana site and service, Fred Banda aged 24, Leonard Kasonde, 28, and Kelvin Zulu all of Kabanana.
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In a statement released by Police Inspector general Remmy Kajoba stated it was discovered that three mobile money booth operators namely Lawrence Tembo aged 26, Michael Banda, 25 and Brian Nangala, 25 all of Chipata compound in Lusaka, were also involved in the crime.
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The trio then led the task force all of Chipata compound to the apprehension of two former employees of ISON Zambia, a company contracted by Airtel Zambia in managing their call centre services.
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“These are M’Shebby Chikwangano aged 36 of house number Six off Zambezi road in Roma and M’ Eric Mubu aged 30 of Ng’ombe compound.”
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“Upon being interviewed they led to the apprehension of M’ Isaac Zulu aged 27 of New Ng’ombe compound an employee of ISON who was responsible for changing PIN Codes and making PIN Resets for members of the public whose cell phones had been stolen on behalf of the other suspects,” Kajoba said.
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Kajoba stated that the crime done by the 11 occurred between January and August, 2022 at unknown times.
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He revealed that during the operation, 15 mobile Phones and 25 Sim Cards were retrieved.
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“All the eleven suspects have been charged and arrested for offences of Theft Contrary to Section 265 of the Penal Code Act Chapter 87 and Unauthorized Access to Data Contrary to Section 49 of the Cyber Security and Crimes Act No. 2 of 2021 of the laws of Zambia.” He added.
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The inspector General said the eleven are currently in police custody and are waiting to appear before court soon.
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Kajoba Sternly warned those involved in the syndicate of stealing mobile phones that stating the long arm of the law will soon catch up with them.
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By Moses Makwaya
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