Online Reporter
Zvikomborero Parafini
THE Zimbabwe Republic Police has made arrests in the Zaoga and Automobile Association of Zimbabwe robberies after they tracked and recovered a pair of AirPods and a US$10 phone that was stolen from one of the suspects.
The quartet of Joshua Hodzi (47), Kennedy Chitiza (46), Takunda Samwira (36) and Revai Obey Matsika (50), were not asked to plead when they appeared before Harare magistrate Mrs Marewanazvo Gofa charged with four counts of armed robbery yesterday.
The court heard that on June 24, the complainant, Takesure Kivha, was on guard duties at Zaoga Hatfield when about eight suspected robbers armed with pistols pounced on him and asked for the district pastor.
They disarmed him of his Retay blank pistol and took his black Itel cellphone worth US$10.
They tied him with an elastic band. They proceeded to the church building where they manhandled Aleck Tsanzaika, a caretaker who was sleeping in his bedroom.
They forced him to lead them to the church offices where they demanded the office keys, but he didn’t have them.
They allegedly took Tsanzaika to the guardroom and one of the robbers kept watch.
They forced open the main door which leads to the reception and broke down almost all the church office doors while ransacking the rooms, looking for cash and valuables.
They broke into the secretary general’s office, where they blasted a safe and stole US$1 279, R2 100, £788, P407 and ZWG495 which was in a small cashbox, before they disappeared from the scene.
The phone was recovered from Samwira on August 18.
On the same day, the gang proceeded to Automobile Association of Zimbabwe, where they pounced on Benny Ganda who guarding the premises.
Two of the robbers, who were armed with an unidentified pistol and a rifle, manhandled Ganda and ordered him to lie down before they tied his hands using his shoe laces. They then left one of the robbers watch him while the others, who were armed with another rifle and pistol, proceeded to the offices where they found Mafadzwa Muchetu and Tatenda Makichi.They threatened to shoot both of them and demanded cash.
The robbers tied them up using their shoe laces before they took them to the guardroom, where Ganda was.
They then searched both complainants and stole US$157 and $315 and AirPods from the two.
The gang then proceeded to the strong room where they blasted open a safe and stole cash amounting to US$3 575.
The AirPods were recovered from Samwira who implicated his accomplices. The quartet has also been linked to a robbery that occurred at Probrands in September last year.
The gang allegedly threatened to shoot Chishamiso Charambani who was on duty as a security officer at Probrands, Ruwa.
The robbers stole his cellphone, before covering his face with his woollen hat before handcuffing him.
The robbers broke into the records office and blasted the safe which had old Zimbabwean bearer notes.
They broke into another office and stole two desktops computers, monitor set and a DVR Decoder.
They also broke the laboratory office and stole a 9kg blue gas tank.
Upon arresting the quartet, police recovered a bosh electric grinder and a drill from Chitiza which was allegedly used in the robberies.
The quartet also stole a Volvo Penta in Msasa on June 17 and property worth US$200.
