adminZvikomborero Parafini
TWO men, employed by the Zimbabwe Republic Police as general hands, appeared in court yesterday to answer to fraud charges.
The duo allegedly defrauded a truck driver by using fake stamps on his fingerprints documents.
The two, Luckson Matanda and Andrew Bonyongwe, appeared before Harare magistrate Yeukai Dzuda, who remanded them in custody to today, for bail ruling.
The duo is attached to the equitation department at Morris Depot.
The informant is a male adult, who is employed as a truck driver for Magtak Transports, in Harare.
The court heard that the informant had secured another employment with a trucking company called Star International, which required clearance for criminal record.
It is the State case that on June 16 this year, the informant proceeded to Morris Depot to have his fingerprints cleared.
He was intercepted by the duo who offered to assist him since they claimed they were attached to the Central Criminal Bureau, which deals with vetting of fingerprints.
After the recording of the fingerprints, the documents were given to their accomplice, who left the room for about 15 minutes.
He returned with the processed fingerprints and demanded US$10 as payment for the service rendered.
The money was handed over to Bonyongwe.
The informant submitted the fingerprints to Star International who, in turn, sent the fingerprints to CID Central Criminal Bureau, for verification.
It was discovered the fingerprints were wrongly classified and they were stamped with fake date stamps.
The informant was invited to CID and was interviewed and narrated what transpired.
He also supplied the police with the numbers of the two accused persons who had assisted him. An arrangement was made to lure the two leading to their arrest.
Online Reporter