‘Armed agents’ raid Findlay’s home
UNIDENTIFIED individuals believed to be State Agents on Saturday threatened to shoot Lusaka businessman Valden Findlay‘s guards after raiding his residence in Lusaka’s New Kasama area where they demanded to gain access without a search warrant.
Mr Jonas Zimba, the laywer to Mr Findlay disclosed in an interview that the “State” agents stormed Mr Findlay’s residence and when they were denied access to the property, they threatened to gun down the guards.
Mr Zimba said the individuals claiming to be officers of the State had waylaid Mr Findlay at his residence around 22:00 hours and demanded that they be given access to the house but were denied entry, an act that incensed them as they started threatening the gate keepers.
He said the individuals claiming to be officers of the State did not give reasons when they wanted to gain access to Mr Findlay’s residency neither did they want to be identified.
This barely comes a week after Mr Findlay and his wife were arrested by the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC).
Mr Zimba said the gatekeepers were given clear instructions not to open the gate because the people who were claiming to be State agents had failed to identify themselves when they were asked.
“Yes, I can confirm that there were some individuals claiming to be State agents that stormed our client’s residence and threatened to shoot the guards if they did not open the gates. The said State officers also threatened to bring down the gate and force themselves into the house. They did not give any reason why they wanted to gain access to the residence of our client,” Mr Zimba said.
Mr Zimba said that he has since advised his client to vacate the premises for the sake of their own safety because it had become unsecure and risky for the family to continue residing there.
He said it was hard to say if indeed the people that wanted to search his client’s house were from the joint investigative team.