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Crime Reporter
FIVE police detectives at Highlands Police station in Harare reportedly divided the stolen US$70 000 they recovered when they hunted down a safe, stolen by the Belvedere owner’s maid and gardener, and divided the loot equally, with each getting US$13 200.
The remaining US$4 000 was given to the maid’s husband who told them where the safe was hidden in a Vainona compost heap.
Four of the detectives have since appeared in court and police are hunting down the fifth.
Detective Assistant Inspector Edward Mateta and Detective Constables Tinashe Matongo, Princess Mavis Matikiti, and Costa Davison were arrested while police are seeking Detective Sergeant Rodrick Njanja Libonzi.
The four already under arrest are expected in court soon.
Sources close to the investigations yesterday said after recovering the money, the five allegedly went to Detective Asst Insp Mateta’s house in Hatcliffe where they shared US$66 000 before giving the maid’s husband with the remaining US$4 000.
However, the four detectives claim the safe had no cash in it when they recovered it and counter charge that the Belvedere employer should explain why he was keeping such a large amount of money in his home instead of taking it to the bank.
It is alleged that on July 3, the maid and a gardener stole a safe that was containing the cash and jewellery from their employer in Belvedere before hiding it in a compost heap in Vainona.
The employer reported the theft at Harare Central Police Station.
Investigations revealed that the detectives from Highlands Police CID, which covers a number of stations, received information that the gardener and the maid were in possession of the safe and jewellery.
They went to a house in Vainona where they interrogated the maid’s husband who then showed them where the safe was hidden.
They took the safe to Mateta’s house where they opened it, found the cash and decided to steal it. They released the maid’s husband after giving him US$4 000 cash.
Acting on another tip-off, police arrested the four on Saturday and follow ups were made leading to the recovery of the US$4 000 tip, which had been hidden in a field.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi yesterday said investigations into the matter are in progress.
Meanwhile, the seven security guards from Securico Security Services, who were taken in for questioning by the police following the cash-in-transit heist in which four men pounced on a Securico CIT vehicle before casually seizing two trunk-loads of cash amounting to US$91 980 and $514 840 at Newlands Shopping Centre in Harare, were questioned and released.
The seven — six women and a man who was the driver of the CIT vehicle — are still assisting police with investigations following the movie-style robbery which was executed with swift precision at about 11am on Thursday at an automated teller machine at Standard Chartered Bank.
Asst Comm Nyathi said police were exploring all possibilities including the suspicion that the robbery could have been an inside job or that there was a leak of information that led to the robbery.
Following the robbery, CCTV footage emerged showing the robbery in graphic detail.
From the sequence of events playing out on the video, it is clear that the robbers faced minimal resistance as they casually offloaded trunks of cash from the Securico vehicle.
In the CCTV footage that has been circulating on social media, only one robber is seen getting out of a white Honda Fit before the security guards who were manning the CIT vehicle fled in all directions, with no attempt whatsoever to confront the suspect.
The unarmed robber was later joined by some of his accomplices as they helped themselves to the cash.
In the video, it appears that not a single shot was fired by the robber to scare away the security guards.
Police have since set up a CID crack team to launch a manhunt for the robbers who are still at large.
Online Reporter