Letting it all hang out.

by Feòrag

Zambia: Police who said that a suspect had been using witchcraft to elude them have now been accused of using witchcraft to enable them to catch him! The officers are said to have engaged the services of a witchdoctor.

Accusations that police removed their underpants to make the search more effective would be interpreted in Zambia as a sure sign of witchery; black magic is best practised naked.

But police said that, apart from the lack of underpants and their urination on traditional herbs found at Kalumba's hideaway, it was a conventional operation.

In the latest twist a journalist has been cautioned by police after claiming in an article that the president, Levy Mwanawasa, sanctioned the police's use of witchcraft as a last resort in the search for Dr Kalumba.

Worldwide: Police accused of using witchcraft to catch fugitive - Daily Telegraph, 8th March 2003. See also: Police blame witchcraft for their incompetence - Pagan Prattle, 16th January 2003.