Malawi police offer K30 million reward for abducted Nusrat Osman

Nusrat Osman, a 47-year-old British national, was abducted by four men in the Mount Pleasant area of Blantyre, Malawi, at about 12:30pm on Friday, and Malawi Police have offered a K30 million reward for information leading to her rescue and to the conviction of those responsible.

The Malawi Police Service said the men were believed to have fled in a grey Nissan Dualis bearing registration number CA 6956. The reward was announced on Friday in a statement from Senior Superintendent Gladys Chiwaula, the force's public relations officer, and published by Nyasa Times and Malawi24.

Police have not disclosed a motive for the abduction, and no group or individual has come forward to claim responsibility, Nyasa Times reported. The circumstances remain unclear, and no arrests have been announced.

What the police statement says

The statement confirmed the kidnapping of a British national in Blantyre and appealed for help from the public. All information provided to police would be treated with strict confidentiality, and the statement did not say whether the four men were known to Osman.

Chiwaula urged members of the public to remain calm and to avoid spreading unverified information that could jeopardise the investigation.

Investigators were still trying to establish who was behind the abduction and where Osman was being held, Malawi24 reported on Saturday.

Police asked anyone who saw Osman, or the grey Nissan Dualis, around the time she was taken to come forward. Neither the statement nor the reports of it describe the men beyond their number.

A daylight abduction in Mount Pleasant

Osman, 47, works as an auditor at Audit Consult Limited, which operates from Keza Office Park in Chichiri, Blantyre. The police statement said she was forcibly taken by unknown individuals at about 12:30pm, in the middle of the working day.

Accounts of the car differ. The police statement, as published by Nyasa Times and Malawi24, gave the registration as CA 6956, while the first reports on the day of the abduction described a grey or silver Nissan Dualis carrying the number 6956.

Her husband, Nazil Osman, confirmed the abduction to Malawi24 on the day she disappeared, when authorities had yet to issue an official statement, and spoke to Nyasa Times by phone in an account it published the next day. Police confirmed the kidnapping later that day. Nyasa Times reported that she was seized at her home in Mount Pleasant; Malawi24 said only that she was taken in the area.

Police have not said whether the Nissan Dualis bearing registration CA 6956 has been traced, four days after the abduction.

The reward and the appeals

The reward is conditional: police said it will go to a person whose credible information directly leads to Osman's rescue and to the arrest, prosecution and conviction of the perpetrators.

Police published five telephone numbers for information: 0999 938 794, 0999 277 832, 0994 000 189, 0999 492 762 and 0998 967 321. The same numbers appeared in the appeals carried on the day of the abduction and the day after. The reward is intended to encourage members of the public with information to come forward, Malawi24 reported.

Audit Consult Limited confirmed the abduction and issued its own public appeal, calling on anyone with information about Osman's whereabouts to contact police immediately, Nyasa Times reported.

Police did not say how long the reward would remain open, or how a claim to the K30 million would be assessed.

Where the accounts differ

Her name is rendered differently across the reports. Nyasa Times calls her Nusrat Osman; Malawi24 and 247 Malawi give the first name as Nasrat, and the first accounts on Friday used Nusrat Osman Jiwa. The reports agree on her age, her nationality, the time she was taken and the make of the car.

The search for Nusrat Osman

Malawi Police have intensified their search for the British national taken from Mount Pleasant, and are now sending SMS messages to members of the public as they look for leads, Nyasa Times reported on Monday. The effort comes on top of the reward already on offer, which police announced on the day of the abduction.

Officers are appealing to anyone with information on Osman's whereabouts, or on the suspected getaway vehicle, to come forward immediately.

Malawi24 reported that the kidnapping has heightened security concerns in Blantyre. The force has not said how many officers are working on the case, or what the SMS appeals have produced.

An earlier abduction in Lilongwe

Osman's disappearance follows the kidnapping of Sameer Sacranie, the Managing Director of Crossroads Hotel. Sacranie was taken at his workplace in Lilongwe on February 6, 2026, and returned unharmed on the night of March 10 after 33 days, in what The Nation reported was believed to be an escape. No one has been arrested. Police have not said whether the two cases are connected.

Osman's family have said publicly that they cannot explain the abduction. Nazil Osman spoke to journalists on the day she was taken and described knowing nothing about her whereabouts or about who was behind it.

I don't know where she is or how she is. My wife is an auditor and I have no issues with anyone.

Her family told Malawi24 they did not know who took her or what could have motivated the abduction, and an appeal for any information that could help police establish her whereabouts went out the same day. Police have not said whether any demand has been made for her release.

Police say investigations are continuing and that information given to them will be handled in confidence. They have not given a date for a further update on the case, and have not said whether Osman has been in contact with her family since she was taken.