Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. A five-member gang of armed robbers was recently arrested by police after they had pounced on a GMB Mvuma depot and stole 29 tonnes of agricultural inputs.
Midlands province police spokesperson Emmanuel Mahoko confirmed the arrests.
“A swift reaction by Zimbabwe Republic Police, Mvuma resulted in the recovery of 29 tonnes of Agricultural inputs which had just been robbed from Grain Marketing Board, Charandura depot and the arrest of five suspects behind the offence,” he said.
Mahoko said the gang was intercepted by police along the Harare-Masvingo Highway in the early hours of Saturday.
The five who have since been arrested are Tirayi Dzimangi (52), Munesu Lazarous (37), Jofile Mugwadi (53), Stephen Nhamo (38) all from Harare and Titus Marange (34) from Mutare.
The recovered inputs are valued at US$30 000 and are held at ZRP Mvuma together with a DAF 15-tonne truck as exhibits.
While efforts are currently underway to account for some remaining six gang members, preliminary investigations are linking the robbery gang to other similar cases.
According to police, on the 12th of October 2023 the gang went to GMB Charandura, where they found two security guards on duty.
“They cut the security fences of the depot and gained entry into the premises. They assaulted the guards using logs, tied them using ropes, stuffed their mouths with pieces of clothes and placed them in a storm drain. They searched for and found keys to the gate, drove a truck into the depot and loaded 540 bags of compound fertilizer and 17 bags of shelled groundnuts before driving away,” said Mahoko.
This was immediately discovered by one security guard who was coming from church and reported to Charandura police.
Police reports indicate that the two complainants were injured and referred to St Theresa Hospital for medical assistance.
“ZRP Charandura communicated with their Mvuma counterparts and an armed roadblock was mounted at the 193, 5 km peg Harare Masvingo road. Within a few minutes, a truck matching the description they had been given, registration number AG7169 approached from Masvingo direction at high speed. The truck disobeyed police signals to stop. Police had to fire shots which deflated one of the front wheels and in the process caused the vehicle to halt. Three occupants immediately jumped out and disappeared into the darkness,” he said.
Police managed to recover all inputs which had been stolen from Charandura.
“Apart from the inputs, inside the vehicle was a third number plate with registration number AGA 9786 which is different from the front and rear number plates AGJ 7169,” he said.
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