The first grade court in Mchinji has ordered a (30) year old man to spend three and a half years in prison for possessing charcoal and firewood without license.
State Prosecutors in the district Helix Kwamkweche, has identified the convict as Edward Nyanja.
According to Kwamkweche, Nyanja was found with fifty (50) bags of charcoal worth about 7 million kwacha and wood from natural trees worth K29, 750.
Kwamkwe asked the court to impose strict punishment, saying that this practice encourages the destruction of forests.
In passing judgment, Judge Yohane Nkhata, sentenced Nyanja to spend 3 years and 6 months in prison and said the punishment has come so that others can take a lesson from it.