An alleged thug, who thought he was smart enough and stole a television set belonging to a villager and buried it behind his house, soon found out that he couldn’t hide from the mighty arm of the people.

The man, who the community alleges is always in and out of jail, is alleged to have broken into a house in Bevula village in the Malamulele area, stealing a television set while the owner was away. The incident happened on Saturday evening, but the suspect was traced the following day.

The owner of the stolen television set, Mr Samuel Shirinda, said he was away from home when the incident happened. When he arrived at home in the morning, he found unfamiliar tracks at his gate. "From where I was, I could see that the door to my house was wide open. On entering, I found everything upside down," he said.

He said he followed the tracks to the house of the suspected thief. He also notified the local traditional leader, Chief Eric Bevula.

The suspect was questioned about the television and he led the community to the back of his house, where he dug up the stolen television. The community was tempted into taking the law into their own hands, but the swift intervention by the traditional leader saved the man from the mob. He was chained to a tree at the chief's residence the whole day, while the leadership of the community tried to convince the police to arrest the suspect.