Chronicle Editor
Peter Matika, [email protected]
A 35-year-old woman from Bulawayo’s Barham Green suburb has been arrested for allegedly orchestrating a burglary and embezzling funds worth US$24 000 at a steel manufacturing company situated in the Belmont Industrial Area.
The incident began with a violent armed robbery, where the assailants got away with US$32 500.
According to the police, Nothando Banana, who was entrusted by the company to safeguard US$24 400, is now facing charges of theft related to the trust funds.
Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson, Inspector Abednico Ncube, said the robbery took place on October 15 at around 11PM.
Seven armed men, with pistols and a garden pick, confronted the security guards and workers on night duty, ordered them to the ground, and tied their hands and legs with shoelaces.
He said the gang then went to the upstairs office where they used a grinder to cut open two safes in the strong room.
“…the other safe was used by the now accused person Nothando to keep money from salespersons before handing it to the company authorities. They used a grinder to open the company safe and stole US$32 500 from one safe, while the other was left behind and taken by Banana,” said Insp Ncube.
He said company authorities found that another safe containing US$27 000 had not been tampered with while doing an inventory of the losses.
“They then asked for keys from the accused person and unlocked the safe. Upon opening the safe, they discovered that out of US$27 000, only US$2 600 was left. Upon interviewing her, she admitted to having used the money,” said Insp Ncube.
According to police sources, Banana was apprehended following a night and day of an extravagant spending spree in Bulawayo. She is expected to appear in court today.
This latest robbery comes on the heels of the country’s biggest heist in which about US$4 million was seized from an Ecobank branch in Bulawayo by armed robbers when it was being loaded into a waiting cash-in-transit van.
In another incident, US$20 000 was stolen from a Fawcett security cash-in-transit van after guards transporting the cash from Beitbridge to Mutare offered a lift to two strangers.
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