Guns flow

Malawi’s porous borders and the movement of illicit firearms across southern Africa have raised fresh security concerns, with recent cases highlighting the potential for weapons to reach criminal hands and be used in serious crimes.

The concerns come amid two recent cases: the arrest of two Mozambican nationals in Chikwawa over an alleged firearms-smuggling attempt and the armed abduction of British national Nusrat Osman in Blantyre.

Together, the incidents have renewed questions about the movement of illicit weapons into Malawi and the threat they pose to public safety.

On September 27, police arrested two Mozambican nationals at Kamuzu Bridge Roadblock in Chikwawa and recovered an AK-47 rifle, two pistols and a Heckler & Koch firearm, according to police.

Confiscated illegal guns ready for

destruction. Inset: Luhanga. | Nation

Less than two weeks earlier, police said suspects involved in Osman’s abduction were armed with an AK-47 and a Girsan Regard MC pistol when law enforcers rescued her in Mpemba on September 17.

Security experts have since warned that weaknesses in border surveillance and enforcement could be exploited by arms smugglers, while the circulation of illegal weapons risks encouraging individuals to arm themselves for protection, potentially escalating insecurity.

Although the Chikwawa incident and Osman’s abduction do not, on their own, establish a nationwide increase in illegal firearms, they raise critical questions about how weapons enter Malawi, who supplies them and whether criminal networks are exploiting gaps in border surveillance and law enforcement.

National Police spokesperson Gladys Chiwaula and the Principal Secretary for Homeland Security had not responded to a Weekend Nation questionnaire by press time.

In an earlier interview on Osman’s abduction, Malawi Police Service Inspector General Richard Luhanga said the circumstances bore similarities to the abduction of the proprietor of Cross-Roads Hotel in Lilongwe earlier this year.

He said that in both cases, the assailants hastily constructed structures in which they held the victims captive.

A former Inspector General of Police, who spoke on condition of anonymity in a WhatsApp response last week, said tackling illicit firearms smuggling requires sustained regional cooperation.

The former Inspector General of Police said Malawi’s lack of domestic firearms manufacturing meant the illicit-weapons problem needed to be understood within a wider regional context.

“Malawi does not manufacture firearms at all,” he said, explaining that weapons could enter through informal routes and bypass formal border and customs controls.

He said illicit firearms were associated with crimes such as armed robbery, intimidation, assault and murder.

“Rarely does the Malawi Police Service register cases whereby a licensed firearm has been used in a robbery,” he said, adding that legally owned guns used in crime were often stolen from their owners.

The former police chief said domestic enforcement alone could not adequately address a problem that crosses national boundaries.

“These boundaries don’t bind criminals. You cannot tackle crime nationally only; it has to be trans-national as well,” he said.

On his part, security analyst Alex Chisiano, in an interview last week, warned that the availability of illegal weapons could encourage some people to arm themselves for protection.

He said strict requirements for legal firearm ownership did not necessarily prevent people from obtaining weapons through illegal channels.

“It is increasingly attractive for some people to entertain the idea of protecting themselves by having firearms,” he said in a WhatsApp response last week.

He said the involvement of foreign nationals in some firearms-related cases warranted scrutiny of possible cross-border criminal networks, although individual incidents alone could not establish the scale of such networks.

Police response

The Malawi Police Service has pursued a combination of firearms seizures, arrests, prosecutions, voluntary surrender campaigns and destruction of confiscated weapons to curb the circulation of illicit firearms.

In July 2025, police destroyed 733 illegal firearms seized from various individuals at National Police Headquarters in Lilongwe during a ceremony marking International Gun Destruction Day.

At the event, then Deputy Inspector General of Police responsible for Operations Ackis Muwanga urged people possessing illegal firearms to surrender them during a September amnesty.

Police have also conducted intelligence-led operations targeting suspected illegal firearms dealers.

In June 2025, police arrested 23 people in a major intelligence-led operation across several districts targeting an illegal firearms smuggling network. The operation led to the recovery of 19 pistols, 415 rounds of live ammunition, three explosive devices and 325 blank cartridges.

In a statement signed by former deputy public relations officer Harry Namwaza, police said investigations established that one suspect had smuggled 20 pistols from South Africa into Malawi and distributed them to various individuals.

Namwaza said police cooperate with foreign law-enforcement agencies to trace the origins of illicit firearms and prevent their cross-border movement.

Firearms amnesties offer another avenue for people to voluntarily surrender illegal weapons. However, those who retain illicit firearms outside an amnesty period risk prosecution.

In September 2022, the People’s Federation for National Peace and Development launched a public awareness campaign in Limbe, Blantyre, urging citizens to surrender illegal weapons to the Malawi Police Service.

The organisation’s executive director, Edward Chaka, said in an interview during the campaign that the initiative was part of the African Union’s Amnesty Month, which encourages the voluntary surrender of illicit small arms and light weapons.

The 2025 Organised Crime Index assessment for Malawi reported a decline in firearms trafficking associated with reduced supply and firearms-amnesty programmes, although sporadic gun-related crime continued. It also identified Malawi as a potential transit point for trafficking along routes connecting neighbouring countries.

An earlier Small Arms Survey assessment identified Mozambique as an important source of illicit firearms entering Malawi and highlighted the porous nature of sections of the border. It also noted possible flows through Zambia.

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