{"id":106811,"date":"2025-01-03T06:03:02","date_gmt":"2025-01-03T06:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/01\/03\/drunken-zambian-policeman-freed-13-suspects-to-celebrate-new-year\/"},"modified":"2025-01-03T06:03:02","modified_gmt":"2025-01-03T06:03:02","slug":"drunken-zambian-policeman-freed-13-suspects-to-celebrate-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/drunken-zambian-policeman-freed-13-suspects-to-celebrate-new-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Drunken Zambian policeman freed 13 suspects to celebrate New Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"sc-18fde0d6-0 dlWCEZ\">\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">A drunken police officer in Zambia freed 13 suspects from custody so that they could go and celebrate the new year, officials say.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Detective inspector Titus Phiri was arrested after releasing the suspects from Leonard Cheelo Police Station in the capital, Lusaka, before running away himself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">The 13 detainees were accused of crimes such as assault, robbery and burglary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">They are all currently on the run and a manhunt has been launched to find them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc-18fde0d6-0 dlWCEZ\">\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Police spokesperson Rae Hamoonga said that Phiri, \u201cin a state of intoxication, forcibly seized cell keys\u201d from constable Serah Banda on New Year\u2019s Eve.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">\u201cSubsequently, Detective Inspector Phiri unlocked both the male and female cells and instructed the suspects to leave, stating they were free to cross over into the new year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">\u201cOut of the 15 suspects in custody, 13 escaped. Following the incident, the officer fled the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Phiri has not yet commented on the allegations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Reacting to the incident, former presidential spokesperson and lawyer Dickson Jere wrote on Facebook: \u201cI keep laughing each time I picture the scenario \u2013 comical! But then, I remembered a similar incident in 1997.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">On New Year\u2019s Eve in 1997, the late, controversial High Court Judge Kabazo Chanda ordered the release of 53 suspects, some of whom were deemed dangerous by the police.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Chanda was annoyed that the suspects had been arrested as long ago as 1992, but had not yet appeared in court.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">\u201cJustice delayed, is justice denied,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/kbc.co.ke\/drunken-zambian-policeman-freed-13-suspects-to-celebrate-new-year\/\">Drunken Zambian policeman freed 13 suspects to celebrate New Year<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/kbc.co.ke\/\">KBC<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A drunken police officer in Zambia freed 13 suspects from custody so that they could go and celebrate the new year, officials say. Detective inspector Titus Phiri was arrested after releasing the suspects from Leonard Cheelo Police Station in the capital, Lusaka, before running away himself. The 13 detainees were accused of crimes such as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106811\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}