By REBECCA MUSHOTA –
BUSINESS at Levy Junction Mall in Lusaka was disrupted yesterday morning when news went round that a group of armed robbers were stuck in the ceiling following a failed robbery.
By Press time police were still at the scene keeping vigil.
Lusaka Province police Commissioner Nelson Phiri said in an interview that police will maintain their presence at the shopping mall.
“Right now we are still there. It is not yet known whether we will use teargas, because people are still around the premises but it will be considered,” Mr Phiri said.
The suspected group got stuck in the ceiling where they were hiding after they realised that police were pursuing them.
One suspected thief was captured on a CCTV camera stealing clothes in Mud Jeans Boutique around 23:00 hours.
When the footage was checked in the early hours, police were informed and they rushed to the scene.
An eye witness said a C5 police officer went into the ceiling, but failed to fish out the suspects, forcing him to firing gun shots.
Shops were closed for a while in the morning, but later reopened save for a few, as shoppers went ahead with their business.
One employee of Mud Jeans said the C5 police could not reach the thieves, because the ceiling was too dark and there were too many pipes in there.
She said they had no choice but to reopen.
The thieves got into the ceiling using a ladder the shop employees use to get clothes hanged up the wall.
A security officer at Levy said that police were still searching for the thieves, but could not use the methods that would disrupt business and cause confusion for the shoppers.
He said one thief fell from the ceiling at Food Lovers but went back up after police fired some gun shots.
Police spokesperson Esther Katongo said thieves were spotted using the CCTV to be hiding in the ceiling board.
“Officers are currently at the scene,” Ms Katongo said. She didn’t have further details.
Another shop minder said they saw a C5 security officer fall from the ceiling and had been rushed to the hospital, in another failed attempt to smoke out the thieves.
Another security officer said that thieves at Levy hid into the ceiling overnight until such a time that they could walk out of the shops in the morning.
She said even three weeks ago, there was an outlet through which it was observed that they had some things missing and saw that the ceiling had been damaged.
By 15:00 hours, the police were still at the scene, but the thieves had not left the ceiling.