Unkown robbers yesterday broke into the Catholic Diocese of Chipata in Eastern Province where they blew off the Church Treasury with unknown explosives and got away with USD$3000 and K18,000.

Eastern Province Police Commissioner Luckson Sakala confirmed this to News Diggers in an interview, explaining that the incidence happened in the early hours of Tuesday and that police had already launched investigations into the matter but that no arrests had been made yet.

Meanwhile, in a separate interview, Chipata Diocesan Chancellor Fr Denis Phiri gave News Diggers a brief narration of what transpired.

“Yes, we recorded a robbery at the Catholic Diocese of Chipata in the early hours of today. Some unknown people broke into the office of the Treasurer General, where they collected monies amounting to USD $300 and K18,000,” Fr Phiri explained.

“They blew the Safe in the Treasure General’s office using unknown excessive explosives and because this happened very early in the morning just at about 01:00 hours, no one saw the robbers; we didn’t see them and we don’t know if they were armed. All we know is that they searched a number of offices within the Diocese before they finally got away with the money they took away from the Treasure General’s office.”

He said police only came to the scene after the robbers had already fled.

“However, some alert security guards who were guarding buildings next to the Church heard noises and they quickly alerted the police who later came and inspected the scene,” explained Fr Phiri.

Last year, 10 armed robbers broke into the residence of Chipata Diocese Bishop George Lungu where they stole his laptop and two mobile phones.

Eastern Province police commissioner said the robbers were armed with a fire arm suspected to be a pistol and some machetes.