FIVE people have been apprehended in connection with the recent beheading of a taxi driver in Lusaka, police have confirmed.

Lusaka Province police chief Joyce Kasosa confirmed the picking up of the five suspects but could not divulge more details as investigations were still ongoing.

Joseph Simfukwe, a resident of Kanyama Township in Lusaka was brutally murdered at the age of 28 and his body was discovered with private parts and head missing.

"We have apprehended five people in connection with the murder but at this point, we wouldn't want to give out any more details as that might jeopardize our investigations. We have been working round-the-clock and we are still working to make ensure we don't leave any stones unturned," she said.

The taxi driver was believed to have been booked from Downtown Shopping Mall to Namwala on December 22, last year and his body was discovered a week later.

Taxi drivers had shockingly become a target of suspected ritual murders with Lusaka and Kabwe being the prime zones of the grisly killings.

Last month, Matthew Chipili, who was a taxi driver in Lusaka, was brutally killed and his body dumped in Roma Township with his tongue and gullet removed.

A week ago, a Kabwe taxi driver was killed and his body dumped near Makombe area on the Kabwe-Lusaka Road.

In another development, police raided 15 shops and confiscated 423 boxes containing 6, 768 packets of counterfeit sanitary pads worth KR94, 752 (K94.7million).

Ms Kasosa said the counterfeit pads were labelled 'Always Sanitary Pads' and the operation was carried out in Kamwala trading area.

The suspects were facing two counts of selling goods with a forged trademark.

The second count was that of infringing copyright work which was contrary to Section 28 (d) of the Copyright Act of the Laws of Zambia.

Ms Kasosa said all the counts attracted a sentence of five years for the first offenders and 10 years for second offenders.

"The effects of counterfeit pads are wide and hinge on economic and health, thereby posing the potential to cause health complications such as fungus, sores, cervical cancer and exposure to HIV/AIDS," she said.

Meanwhile, a suspected criminal was shot and wounded in Lusaka's Chaisa Township after police intercepted a robbery, police spokesperson Elizabeth Kanjela said.

Police were alerted of a robbery at a shop in Chaise by a security guard.

"The officers fired a warning shot which made the criminals scamper, in the process one criminal identified as Moses Phiri aged 19 of Chazanga Township was shot in his left leg and is currently admitted to the University Teaching Hospital," Ms Kanjela said.

The incident happened on Sunday this week around 02:00 hours.

And a 14-year-old boy drowned in a well in Mwachinondo Village in Lusaka Province and was only discovered by the mother as it floated after hours of searching.