Joint PNC-FARDC Sweep in Beni's Malepe Neighborhood Nets 28 Arrests, Including Two Soldiers

The Congolese National Police (PNC) and FARDC jointly conducted an early-morning security sweep of Beni's Malepe neighborhood on Sept 19, 2026, under orders from the provincial police commissioner and the urban police commander. Twenty-eight people were apprehended, including two FARDC soldiers and seven women, and authorities seized two firearms and more than 169 cartridges. The operation targeted rising urban criminality following the Sept 9-16 triple killing of a money changer, his wife and a moto-taxi driver in Beni's Butanuka neighborhood, and was aimed partly at questioning the detained soldiers to trace the source of illicit weapons.