BY REX MPHISA
TWO senior police officers in Beitbridge have been jailed for 25 months each for assisting smugglers in a bid to evade the law.
Effectively Inspector Elias Mawomba (47) and Assistant Inspector Dickson Siakwimbi who denied the charges will serve 15 months each after 10 months were suspended conditionally for five years.
They were both members of the Police Support Unit and in a combined security team deployed on a Beitbridge operation against goods smuggling and border jumping between Zimbabwe and South Africa.
They were convicted of Criminal Abuse of Office and Theft charges by Beitbridge regional magistrate Innocent Bepura who said prosecutors had proved their case.
On July 18 fellow security members deployed with Mawomba intercepted two people carrying smuggled goods in the Dite area 40 kilometres east of Beitbridge town.
The goods included 250 boxes of MAQ washing powder and 57 boxes (12 by 400ml) of Nivea body lotion creams.
These were carried in two cars namely a silver Toyota Hiace (AFH 6568) driven by Christopher Mashura and a green Toyota Hiace (ACU 4824) panel van driven by Last Muvimi.
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The two vehicles were escorted to Beitbridge Police Station for further management.
Mawomba and Siakwimbi were the next day tasked to escort the two vehicles to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority offices for seizure and further management.
But the two cops had other ideas and connived with Mashura and Muvimi to offload part of the goods near the Zimbabwe National Water Authority water treatment pump. They were spotted by some members of the public who tipped police resulting in their arrest.
