Police in Chitipa have arrested two people  after being found with 200 bales of Sugar which they are suspected that they were diverting to Zambia using a lorry vehicle.

Minister of Trade, Vitumbiko Mumba says the driver and his assistant of the vehicle claimed to have collected the Sugar from an undisclosed distributor in Chitipa district.

This comes after months of shortages on the local market, which pushed up prices to almost 6, 000 Kwacha a packet, availability of the sugar was beginning to stabilize but smuggling of the commodity remains a serious challenge.

In a social media post, Minister Mumba confirmed that the driver and his assistant were intercepted before smuggling the sugar across the border.

Spokesperson for the ministry, Patrick Botha, says the matter is now being handled by the police.

"The two did not produce documentation for the Sugar that was found with them, and we called police who have taken the suspects into custody," said Botha.

Meanwhile, Economic Justice Programmes Officer at the Center for Social Concern, Agnes Nyirongo, has urged government to intensify efforts in curbing sugar smuggling. 

She warns that such practices could trigger another scarcity of the commodity if unchecked.

"The ministry of trade needs to work together the Competition and Fair Trading Commission to deal with these trends," noted Nyirongo.

For the past months, Malawi has faced a sugar shortage, which saw vendors and some traders inflating prices on the local market.