The authorities in Zambia have rearrested eight Croatian nationals accused of child trafficking a day after the state prosecutors dropped all the charges.
Chief Resident Magistrate Dominic Makalicha had said that the case against the four women and four men had only been discontinued – and was not an acquittal.
8 CROATS WALK TO FREEDOM
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By Lovemore Sondashi
Ndola high court has dropped the charges of child trafficking against eight Croatian citizens.
This was after the State discontinued the case in which eight Croatians were charged with attempted trafficking of four pic.twitter.com/7oHp5qryU7
The Croatian nationals’ lawyer as well as the Zambia Department of Immigration’s public relations officer, Namati Nshinka, confirmed the four couples had been detained.
“I can confirm the eight Croatians have been rearrested. We received instructions from the NPA [National Prosecution Authority] to rearrest,” Mr Nshinka told local media.
The eight were arrested last year after allegedly checking in to a lodge in northern Ndola town, but on the third day, workers there noticed they had children.
The couples said they had adopted the children from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Zambian authorities had earlier said that they were working with the relevant bodies in DR Congo to investigate the matter.