There are several issues emerging from the ongoing inquiry into the plane crash that claimed the lives of Vice President Chilima and eight others that deserve careful examination.
Among the questions being raised are:
- The reported MK5 million that was allegedly being carried as condolence money for the Kasambara family was reportedly never recovered from the crash site.
- Some mobile phones were reportedly not recovered from the scene.
- Certain personal belongings, including clothing, were also reportedly missing.
- Reports from the inquiry have not indicated evidence of an intense fire that would readily explain the disappearance of these items.
These observations raise an important question:
Is it possible that someone reached the crash site before the official search and recovery teams?
If that happened, investigators would need to establish who arrived first, what they found, whether anything was moved or removed, and whether the integrity of the crash scene was compromised.
These are questions that deserve answers based on evidence, not speculation.
One investigative avenue worth considering would be to obtain a court order requiring mobile network operators TNM, Airtel, Access, and MTL to provide records of devices that connected to the Nthungwa cell tower, and any adjacent towers, between the morning of June 10 and the time the wreckage was officially located on June 11.
The request could include:
- Phone numbers that registered on the relevant towers during the specified period and identify who owns them .
- Associated IMEI and IMSI identifiers.
- Call detail records, SMS metadata, internet session logs, and communication patterns.
- Analysis of short-duration calls, unanswered calls, and unusual communication activity that could assist investigators.
This would undoubtedly generate a substantial volume of data, the ad-hoc committee can analyze such information systematically, one number at a time, to identify devices that merit closer scrutiny.
If the committee believe there is reason to suspect that unauthorized individuals accessed the crash site before the official recovery teams, this type of digital forensic analysis could help establish a timeline of movements and communications.
The unanswered question , will have answers .
The culprits won’t survive this .
About the Author
