Intoxicated police officer frees 13 suspects to celebrate the new year

In a bizarre New Year’s Eve incident, a drunken Zambian police officer reportedly freed 13 suspects from custody to let them “cross over into the new year.”

The officer, identified as Detective Inspector Titus Phiri, allegedly seized the keys from constable Serah Banda at the Leonard Cheelo police station in Lusaka, before unlocking both male and female cells.

According to police spokesperson Rae Hamoonga, Phiri, in an intoxicated state, instructed the suspects—who were accused of serious crimes like assault, robbery, and burglary, to leave.

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Out of 15 detainees, 13 escaped and a manhunt has been launched to recapture them. Phiri himself fled the scene and has not commented on the matter.

Reacting to the incident, former presidential spokesperson Dickson Jere found the situation amusing, recalling a similar case from 1997.

At that time, the late High Court Judge Kabazo Chanda ordered the release of 53 suspects who had been detained without trial since 1992, declaring that “justice delayed is justice denied.”

Reacting to the incident, Mr Chanda was annoyed that the suspects had been arrested as long ago as 1992, but had not yet appeared in court.

“Justice delayed, is justice denied,” he said.