Thieves terrorise Ndola market

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RAMPANT thefts have struck Pamodzi Market in Ndola’s Pamodzi Township, forcing some traders to close down.
A check at the market yesterday found that two beauty hair salons have shut down after thieves broke into their shops and got away with everything.
Most of the shop owners at the market expressed fear over the possibility of losing their property to the thieves attacking the area nearly every day.
Japhet Ngosa who runs a grocery store said since 2011, thieves had been attacking the shops but the situation had become worse during the past one year.
Mr Ngosa said he decided to start spending nights in his shop to keep it safe.
He said shop owners were increasingly exposed to risks because two weeks ago, thieves broke the locks to his shop while he was sleeping.
Mr Ngosa woke up and flashed a light on his cell phone which alarmed the thieves who ran away.
He said two days later around the same time, thieves again attacked his shop and he alerted the owner of the next shop who was equally sleeping inside his shop.
“As the thieves got into my shop, I grabbed one of them and my friend from the next shop helped me hold on to him.
“We took the boy who had come from Chipulukusu Township to Kansenshi Police Station because we do not have a police post here,” Mr Ngosa said.
He said lack of a police post in the area had contributed to the rising cases of thefts.
Mr Ngosa said he did not understand why the police post that was built in the market was not yet open.
Pamodzi Marketeers Association secretary Gabriel Kangwa said he had engaged authorities over the dormant police post for some time now.
Mr Kangwa said there were fears that the thieves could get more vicious since they was no security at the market.
Mr Kangwa also said the nightclubs operating in the area were serving as hiding places for the thieves.
Copperbelt police commissioner Joyce Kasosa said police were ready to start operating at the police post, but that they were waiting for a go-ahead from the council which was the initiator of the project.
Ndola City Council public relations manager Roy Kuseka said the local authority was working on the matter and the police post would be operational as soon as electricity was connected.
The market serves clients from Kansenshi Extension, Pamodzi Overspill, Kawama and Pamodzi townships.

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