Saturday, March 7, 2020

Gassing Attacks (Zambia, 2020)



Macau Business
7 March 2020

Zambia dazed by wave of mysterious gas attacks

AFP

All the woman remembers before she passed out was an overwhelmingly pungent odour that suddenly filled her living room while she was watching television around midnight last month. She managed to jump off the couch and peer through the window to see four men running away from her family’s house in the Chawama township of Zambia’s capital Lusaka. Shortly after that the 27-year-old collapsed, becoming yet another victim of a wave of mysterious gang-related gas attacks that has sparked widespread panic in the southern African country over the last three months. […]

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This is a representative selection of articles on the gassing scare.



Lusaka Times [Zambia]
28 January 2020

The suspect in connection with the gassing of residents with unknown chemicals has been arrested

The neighborhood watch of Mutenda community in the outskirts of Chingola District on the Copperbelt province have apprehended a suspect in connection with the gassing of residents with unknown chemicals. […]


Lusaka Times [Zambia]
28 January 2020

Police gun down suspected criminal found with Chemicals in Chingola

Police in Chingola have gunned down a suspected criminal who was found with unknown chemicals believed to have been used in the gassing of residents in the area. […]


Lusaka Times [Zambia]
11 February 2020

Zambia Police warns public after they attack a suspect accused of gassing households

The Zambia Police has appealed to members of the public to avoid at all cost taking the law into their own hands in the advent of the prevailing alleged gassing of households in Lusaka. Police spokesperson Ester Katongo […] dismissed information circulating that nine people have died in Lusaka as a result of gassing and has urged members of the public to ignore such information and treat it as false news. […]


Lusaka Times [Zambia]
12 February 2020

Kanyama Compound residents apprehend two suspects allegedly behind gassing houses

Residents in Kanyama Compound in the early hours of today apprehended two suspects alleged to be behind the gassing of houses and descended on them beating one to death while the other one was rescued by Police Officers on Patrol. It is alleged that the suspects were seen spraying an unknown chemical through a partially closed window at some flat in the area and when the occupants called for help, members of the public descended who they caught after running away from the scene. […]

The Mast [Zambia]
12 February 2020
Gassing incidents sparking mob attacks worry police


The Mast [Zambia]
14 February 2020

Lusaka mobs kill more ‘gassing’ suspects

ANGRY mobs in Lusaka have continued attacking and killing people suspected of being behind gassing incidents that have caused panic and unrest in the capital city. Meanwhile, police yesterday arrested a 14-year-old boy of Luangwa compound in Lusaka who they say went to Northmead Primary School and sprayed a chemical substance in a Grade 7 classroom. Police announced that three people were attacked and killed in Kanyama and John Howard areas in the early hours of yesterday, bringing the total number of fatalities since Wednesday to six. […]


Lusaka Times [Zambia]
14 February 2020

There is no evidence of ritual killings in Zambia – Deputy Inspector General Kapeso

Zambia Police Deputy Inspector General for Operations Bonny Kapeso has said there are no ritual killings happening on the Copperbelt and in Lusaka or anywhere else in the country. He said no report of ritual killing where body parts have been removed for ritual purposes has been reported to the police anywhere in the country since the gassing of houses were first reported in Chingola. […] Mr Kapeso says disclosing the chemical criminals are using to gas people is dependent on medical personnel concluding investigations on the chemicals submitted to them so far. He said Police are not medical professionals to disclose the chemical that people are using to gas houses. […]


Lusaka Times [Zambia]
15 February 2020

Gassing reports decrease – Zambia Police

[…] Zambia Police spokeperson Esther Katongo said […] Police recorded two evident cases which happened between 01 00 hours and 02 00 hours in Chipata Compound in Lusaka in which two households were sprayed with a chemical substance. She said in both circumstances, Criminals are reported to have gotten to the rooftops of the houses, lifted iron sheets and sprayed the chemical inside houses. […]


The Mast [Zambia]
16 February 2020

Mambo’s claim govt behind gassing incidents to create anarchy reckless, says PF

PF Lusaka Province Secretary Kennedy Kamba says Bishop John Mambo’s claims that the government is behind the spate of gassing citizens have been experiencing in a bid to create anarchy and defer the 2021 general elections is reckless. […]


The Mast [Zambia]
17 February 2020

Mobs attacks mental patient on gassing suspicions

A VIOLENT mob in Katende area of Chongwe yesterday brutally beat up a mental patient they suspected was part of criminals who are gassing people. […] From Wednesday, 12 people have been killed by mobs in Lusaka on suspicion of being gassers. The gassing incidents which started in Chingola on the Copperbelt spread to Ndola and North Western Province before coming to Lusaka. […]

Lusaka Times [Zambia]
17 February 2020
Mobs lynching innocent people they suspect to be “gassing” culprits


The Mast [Zambia]
18 February 2020

GBM’s silence on gassing makes him an accomplice – Katuka

A CITIZEN’S arrest will be effected on Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba if police do not take him in for questioning on the recent spate of gassing attacks in the country because he knows the perpetrators, says UPND secretary general Steven Katuka. In a statement yesterday, Katuka said Zambians have always had strong and compelling suspicions that the PF regime was aware of the people behind the ‘ritual’ killings and gassing of citizens. On Sunday, Mwamba said he had known about the gassing scheme for the past five years and would report the offenders to the police. […]

The Mast [Zambia]
19 February 2020
HH gassing claims surprises Lungu


The Mast [Zambia]
19 February 2020

Enhance security in schools to prevent gassing, Andyford

PEOPLE’S Alliance for Change (PAC) has urged school authorities especially in Lusaka to beef up security in their respective schools amidst the increased gassing of schools in the capital city. […]


The Mast [Zambia]
20 February 2020

PF needs to come clean on the gassing attacks – Akafumba

GASSING escapades are a PF gimmick to divert Zambians’ attention from their plunder of national resources, says NDC vice-president Josephs Akafumba. […] “What puzzles me is the source of the gas, the type of gas used, and who the supplier is. Because poor Zambian youths cannot afford to purchase such type of chemicals that are allegedly being used, because if they are that cheap then we would have known the sources or suppliers of such gasses.” […] The PF have crafted a narrative framing UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema to be behind the gassing attacks. […] Hichilema on the other hand has squarely blamed gassing attacks on government. […]


The Mast [Zambia]
21 February 2020

PF INVOLVED IN GASSING…the regime wants to create anarchy – Kalala

JACK Kalala says there are strong signs the PF regime is involved in the gassing of citizens to create anarchy and lay ground to declare a state of emergency so as to arrest political opponents. […]


The Mast [Zambia]
22 February 2020

WE HAVE LEADS…very soon gassing culprits will be arrested, says Wina

VICE-PRESIDENT Inonge Wina has told Parliament that the government has “some leads” on people behind the ongoing gassing incidents. […]


The Mast [Zambia]
26 February 2020

Can deployment of soldiers stop gassing attacks?

The gassing attacks have really exposed the incompetence of this Patriotic Front government. It’s laughable for the government to fight these attacks with Zambia Army deploying its tanks on the streets and in the compounds. Who are the tanks going to destroy? Equally, it doesn’t make sense to be flying around Zambia Airforce jets in the fight against gassing attacks. Who are these jets going to bomb? The militarisation of our cities, towns and compounds is not going to stop the gassing attacks. It is simply going to irritate the population. This is a matter that needs police investigations and not the deployment of heavy military weapons and troops. […]


The Mast [Zambia]
28 February 2020

Security wings should quickly find the masterminds behind gassing

By Tuesday Bwalya

I am lost to find words to describe what is happening in our country; the gassing of our innocent Zambians especially school going children is shocking and defiles logic. […] I have also been wondering, what could be the reason behind gassing people even in the day. Schools are being gassed in broad day light. I think the idea is to instill fear in our people. The gassers are not killing and drawing blood as it was speculated when the gassing started on the Copperbelt. I think it is just about inflicting and instilling fear in our children in schools and colleges. […]


The Mast [Zambia]
6 March 2020

EXPECT MORE SOCIAL PROBLEMS…Zambians living under economic apartheid -Kabimba

RAINBOW Party general secretary Wynter Kabimba says the gassing ‘mystery’ must be analysed from the dimension of the current economic meltdown in Zambia. […] He wondered what the aim of gassing was. “Is it to kill the people? Is it just to incapacitate them so that they can steal from their homes? What is the objective? […]


The Mast [Zambia]
7 March 2020

GASSERS WILL BE CRUSHED, BURIED – LUNGU

AFTER months of hush, except his Facebook and off-the-cuff airport runway remarks on gassing, President Edgar Lungu used Parliament yesterday to tell perpetrators of the vice that they will be “crushed and buried.” […]

[The following articles from the Zambia Daily Mail require registration.]

Zambia Daily Mail
26 January 2020
Police arrest 7 in Chingola
POLICE in Chingola have arrested seven people in connection with gassing incidences in the mining town. […]

Zambia Daily Mail
28 January 2020
Gassing suspect killed
A MAN suspected to be part of the group terrorising residents of Chingola by spraying unknown poisonous substances has been gunned down by the police. […]

Zambia Daily Mail
29 January 2020
6 Copperbelt families sprayed
SIX families in Lufwanyama have been sprayed with a poisonous substance by suspected criminals as Kalulushi residents yesterday pounced on three suspects and left one for dead. And a five-month-old baby survived the gassing incident while a pregnant mother is admitted to Kitwe Teaching Hospital after suffering a similar traumatic experience. […]

Zambia Daily Mail
10 February 2020
More Lusaka residents gassed
NINE members of one family in Lusaka’s George Township yesterday became the latest victims of an apparently well-orchestrated scheme of gassing people in homes at night. And 32 pupils at Lumanto Boarding School and nine residents of Chikabuke village in Lufwanyama have been gassed, barely a week after 38 pupils from the same school were gassed while they were asleep. […]

Zambia Daily Mail
11 February 2020
Police unwrap gassing chemical
POLICE have cracked one of the most challenging puzzles in the last few years after establishing chemicals criminals have been using to gas tens of people across the country. While keeping details of the chemical close to his chest, Inspector General of Police Kakoma Kanganja said yesterday that his men and women have full knowledge of the drowsing and sometimes fatal spray. “Disclosing the contents of the chemicals may mean giving information to other criminals.” […]

Zambia Daily Mail
12 February 2020
13 gas suspects nabbed
POLICE have arrested 13 people in connection with the gassing of residents in Lusaka and Copperbelt provinces. […]

Zambia Daily Mail
13 February 2020
2 gassing suspects killed
ANGRY mobs yesterday killed two men, one by burning and the other by a beating, in separate incidents but both linked to suspicions of the victims being involved in the gassing of residents. […]

Zambia Daily Mail
14 February 2020
Kapata detects politics in gassing
THERE was uproar in the House yesterday when Mandevu Member of Parliament Jean Kapata (PF) said gassing of people in various parts of the country is politically-motivated. […]


Zambia Daily Mail
22 February 2020
Mastermind nabbed
POLICE have arrested one of the masterminds behind the gassing of citizens which has caused consternation and led to many deaths in the country. […]

Zambia Daily Mail
24 February 2020
Gassing double tragedy
THE bane of blind participation in mob justice has become a double tragedy for a man who took part in killing a gassing suspect who turned out to be his uncle. […]

Zambia Daily Mail
2 March 2020
Gassing saga: Stakeholders call for end
[…] Over 511 crimes related to the chemical spraying of poisonous substances on households have been reported to police, with over 1,687 people falling prey. […]


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