A BEITBRIDGE armed robber, who specialised in targeting smugglers using illegal crossing points, has been jailed for 12 years after being convicted of armed robbery and illegal possession of a firearm.
Azwindini Kwinda was on Friday also ordered to pay US$300 for possession of an unlicensed gun or alternatively six months imprisonment.
For the armed robbery he committed on November 9 last year, Kwinda was jailed for 12 years of which four were suspended on condition of good behaviour and another three were set aside on condition of restitution in the sum of R51 000 leaving him with an effective five-year jail term.
Kwinda pleaded not guilty when he was arraigned before Beitbridge regional magistrate Charity Maphosa who ruled that the State provided overwhelming evidence against him.
It was agreed that on November 24 in Chicago village near Beitbridge, Kwinda and his accomplices identified as Moses Ndou, Zozo, Joseph, Kule Kule, Willet and Thomas Mbedzi hatched a plan to rob smugglers.
They placed stones near Maware Hills across the Beitbridge-Dite Road to block vehicles bringing goods through illegal crossing points.
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They intercepted a Mazda B2200 which drove through their barricade, but broke down a few metres away.
Kwinda and his gang pounced on the occupants and fired some shots in the air before robbing them of five television sets, 10 blankets, a mobile phone, a power bank and R5 000. They left their victims stranded.
Kwinda’s luck ran out a few hours later when they were cornered in Chicago village and the other members of the gang fled leaving him at the mercy of police detectives who recovered a Star pistol from him.
Willbrought Muleya appeared for the State.