TWO members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police from Hillside Police Station have been arraigned before the courts facing an extortion charge.
Arther Bingo and Sponias Zhaime were both not asked to plead when they appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Maxwell Ncube on Friday last week.
They were granted US$100 bail each and remanded to December 27.
Ncube ordered Bingo and Zhaime to reside at their given addresses until the finalisation of the case. They were also ordered not to interfere with State witnesses and to report to the nearest police station every fortnight on Fridays.
The complainant in the matter is Bernard Mutanga.
It is the State case that on November 27 at corner Fife Street and 11th Avenue, Bingo and Zhaime were both off duty and were in civilian attire when they approached Mutanga and told him that he was under arrest for parking in an undesignated zone.
The court heard that the duo instructed Mutanga to drive to ZRP Traffic Drill Hall parking yard where they pressured Mutanga to pay a fine of US$160 or a bribe of US$100.
Mutanga borrowed US$70 from his colleague to pay the fine. However, Mutanga reportedly enquired about the fine schedule at ZRP Traffic and he was told that he should have paid a US$30 fine.
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Mutanga and his colleagues looked for Bingo and Zhaime and obtained a closed-circuit television footage from a shop near where he was arrested and Mutanga positively identified the two policemen.
Mutanga also shared the footage with police and vendors.
The court heard that on December 11, Bingo and Zhaime were seen by vendors at corner Jason Moyo Street and 9th Avenue and they informed Mutanga.
The vendors made a citizen’s arrest after waylaying Bingo and Zhaime at the Art Gallery corner Joshua Nkomo Street and Leopold Takawira Avenue. Bingo and Zhaime were handed over to the police.
