The police have said that they believe the robbery that took place along the Harare-Chinhoyi road was an inside job. According to the security personnel who are now being treated as suspects instead of victims, they took in hitch-hikers into the vehicle. After driving for a while one of the hitch-hikers said he wanted a bathroom break and so the driver stopped the vehicle. That is when one of the passengers produced a pistol and forced the three security personnel after which the robberies drove the vehicle into the bushes, offloaded the money into another vehicle and escaped.
ZRP police are not buying this story. They managed to convince a magistrate to issue warrants of arrest for the three security personnel. Nomatter Jonga (43), Mathew Simango (66) and Fanuel Musakwa (34)-the three- have since appeared before a magistrate in Harare charged with theft. The police say there were inconsistences in the details these three individuals gave concerning how the incident occurred.
About the money
The State alleges that on Wednesday at around 11.30 am, the three were tasked to carry seven boxes containing US$2 775 000.
This cash was to be ferried to ZB branches — Chinhoyi US$75 000, Kadoma US$25 000, Kwekwe and Gweru US$150 000 each, Bulawayo US$200 000, Gwanda US$50 000 and Zvishavane US$100 000.
Prosecutor on the issue of the money
The total cash haul easily makes this Zimbabwe’s largest robbery. The only other robbery that comes close to this is the 2018 robbery of a Chinese firm back in 2018 when robbers got away with about US$1.8 million after blasting their way into the firms strong room. This is also the second time security personnel have conspired to defraud their employers. Last year security personnel tasked with ferrying cash to a Mukuru branch in Gokwe dissappeared with the money. Security personnel often earn very low pay and sometimes do not even get basic health insurance or even funeral cover.
Leave A Comment