{"id":23842,"date":"2026-02-16T16:12:48","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T14:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/malawi-suspects-wanted-for-staging-fake-funeral-procession-to-smuggle-charcoal\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:34:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:34:35","slug":"malawi-suspects-wanted-for-staging-fake-funeral-procession-to-smuggle-charcoal","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/malawi-suspects-wanted-for-staging-fake-funeral-procession-to-smuggle-charcoal\/","title":{"rendered":"Malawi suspects wanted for staging fake funeral procession to smuggle charcoal"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>At least nine people are on the run after they were caught smuggling charcoal in a hearse, complete with a fake funeral procession, Malawi Police and Forestry officials said on Monday.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Charcoal smuggling is common in the southern African country and one of the main causes of rampant deforestation although this method of transporting the illicit goods was new.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Forestry officers acted on a tip to intercept the &#8220;funeral&#8221; procession at a roadblock, a forestry official in Chikwawa, 40 km (25 miles) south of the commercial city of Blantyre, told R<i>euters.<\/i><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Inside the hearse they found an empty casket and about 30 large bags of charcoal packed underneath, at a total value of 3 million Malawian Kwacha ($1,747), said Chikwawa District Forestry Officer Hector Nkawihe.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>If found guilty, the suspects face up to five years in prison or fines, he said. Most Malawians rely on charcoal for cooking as electricity blackouts are common.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The suspects were briefly detained, but later escaped custody leaving behind the impounded hearse, Nkawihe said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;They face two charges of illegal possession of forestry products and transportation of the same,&#8221; he said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>A police Spokesperson confirmed the incident to <i>Reuters <\/i>and said the suspects remained at large and had not yet been charged.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":21148,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-23842","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Charcoal smuggling is common in the southern African country.","published_date":null,"news_description":"Charcoal smuggling is common in the southern African country.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26686,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23842\/revisions\/26686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=23842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}