A Malawian pastor who spent a year orchestrating the thefts of batteries from Vodacom and MTN cellphone towers around the country, will spend the next decade behind bars.
Mlotha Nelson Usale was found guilty of running a syndicate between 2021 and 2022.
NPA spokesperson, Lumka Mahanjana, said the 59-year-old pastor at God's Chapel Church, would interchange the e-battery management system of batteries to different manufacturers, and respray the battery casings to make it look like they were commercial solar batteries.
He would then sell the batteries on social media under a business called Solar Mart and Sun Shop.
The pastor's racket was exposed when a buyer complained that a battery did not work, and discovered it was a cellphone network battery.
Cops set a trap for the skurke and arrested three Malawian nationals in May 2023.
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