FIVE suspected armed robbers were yesterday arrested over a spate of robberies that occurred in Bulawayo and Victoria Falls between May and December this year.
Silence Kwangwa (26), Ayanda Ncube (32), Julias Mugwagwa (28), Douglas Rizani (32) and Edzayi Madondo (38) are being accused of targeting business and residential premises of families and businesspeople who keep large sums of money at home.
In a statement yesterday, national police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said last Friday, police tip-offs led to the arrest of the five suspects.
On being interviewed, they implicated their accomplices, Wellington Ndoro (26) and Felias Mvula (54), who are already in custody after they were arrested in Victoria Falls for another robbery which occurred on December 14, 2023.
The arrest of the five has so far cleared 11 robbery cases.
“Some of the cases include a robbery case in which the suspects attacked a milling company in Bulawayo on September 23, 2023 and went away with a chubb safe containing US$40 000 and another robbery case that occurred on November 2, 2023, in which they allegedly attacked some security guards on duty at a company premise in Belmont, Bulawayo, before breaking into offices, where they stole US$19 204 cash, 2,2kg of gold, two laptops, CCTV DVR, various cellphones and other valuables, all worth US$154 304,” Nyathi said.
He said investigations led to the recovery of a blue Honda Fit vehicle registration number AEQ 3032, a 9mm CZ pistol with erased serial numbers, Cash safe, CCTV DVR, Asus Laptop, HP 255 laptop, MAC Book, Huawei 8i cellphone, Samsung Tablet SMT560, Infinite Smart 6 cellphone, two Huawei cellphones, three Itel Smartphones, Samsung A34 cellphone, KG Tel cellphone, an iPhone, Samsung 20 smartphone, 2000 Pakistan rupees from Silence Kangwa’s place of residence in Trenance, Bulawayo.
In a related case, Nyathi said the police arrested Willium Dhumukwa (34), James Zawi (29) and Chishamiso Muganiri (30), who were part of a 15-member gang which pounced on a mine in Kadoma and went away with a Toyota Hilux vehicle, three cellphones, 17 bags of carbon, among other valuables, last week on Sunday.
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The suspects, who were armed with two pistols and two .303 rifles, escaped after having been involved in a shoot-out with the police at the mine and they dropped the two rifles at the scene. Detectives tracked the suspects to Mbare, Harare, where the suspects were arrested after a shoot-out.
Dhumukwa was shot on the thigh.
Further investigations revealed that the recovered .303 rifles were reported stolen in Harare during a robbery early this month.
