RUSTENBURG - Police in Zambia have arrested at least 50 people in connection with mob justice meted out to people suspected of orchestrating widespread "gassing" incidents in the landlocked country, Zambia media has reported.
According to a report in the Lusaka Times, the suspects were arrested in Matero for idle and disorderly conduct.
"These are unruly groupings arming themselves with offensive weapons moving round communities on the pretext of patrolling, but they end up harassing innocent people, some of which have died in instances of mob justice," police spokesperson Esther Katongo told the online publication.
Three people were reportedly killed in separate incidents in Matero’s Katambalala area, Zingalume area and Hill Side area.
"In another sad development, police in Lusaka have retrieved the body of an unidentified male person suspected to have been murdered and burnt by a mob on suspicion of being one of the people spraying chemicals.
"Police have instituted investigations in all cases of murder recorded as a result of recent mob justice as well as those of malicious damage to property. All those involved in these crimes should know that their days are numbered because as police we shall not leave any stone unturned."
On Friday, the army was deployed to restore order in the streets of the capital Lusaka following mob justice incidents.
Meanwhile, Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) reports that Archbishop Ignatius Chama of the Kasama Archdiocese said it was wrong for the community to met out mob justice on people suspected of involving themselves in the gassings.
The Archbishop said people should not take the law into their own hands, but should instead be reporting such cases to police.
Criminal gangs allegedly spray a gas that immobilise their victim before they attack them, the gas reportedly makes people dizzy.