The Zambia Council of Catholic Bishops has termed the summoning of its Lusaka Cosmopolitan Archbishop Alick Banda by the Drug Enforcement Commission as an attack on the church's mission and leadership.

The statement further says that the council views the summoning as an attempt to suppress his voice as a shepherd of the cosmopolitan archdiocese of Lusaka.

They claim that Archbishop Banda has faced consistent name-calling by the government, a situation that has made them conclude that he is a subject of state-sponsored persecution.

The statement denounces the action, deeming it not only a wound on Christ's body but also a threat to the nation's moral fabric.

However, the Director General of the Drug Enforcement Commission's Anti-Money Laundering Investigations Unit defends the investigation as personal to Banda and not targeting the entire church.

In 2021, when Hakainde Hichilema's government took over, the security wing established that several government vehicles were improperly disposed of.

This prompted a thorough investigation into the whereabouts of these government assets.

In the process, one of the vehicles, a Toyota Hilux bakkie, was found to have been converted to Alick Banda, prompting an immediate seizure.

And now, the Drug Enforcement Commission's Anti-Money Laundering Investigations Unit wants to establish the circumstances in which the convention was done.