admin
Crime Reporter
TWO teenagers recently managed to sneak out of their house in Chivhu to alert neighbours and the police after three robbers armed with an AK47 assault rifle raided their home and held hostage the other five occupants, demanding cash.
The neighbours then called police who reacted swiftly and arrived as the robbers were about to speed off in a Nissan Caravan they stole at the house.
The robbers fled on foot, leaving the vehicle at the gate and investigations carried out later led to the arrest of Ashley Moses Foster Dube (21) in Chegutu resulting in the recovery of the AK47 and 20 rounds of ammunition. The weapon had been buried in the bush near Chivhu. Two of the suspects are still at large.
Investigations revealed that the three robbers went to the house in Buckenhill armed with the AK47 rifle and knives at around 8pm on January 16. They tied up the five people they found in the house with shoe laces and threatened them with death while demanding cash. They missed the two boys.
Police said the gang ransacked the house and stole cash amounting to R36 400, US$970 and three cellphones.
During the process, the twin boys aged 16, who were in a separate room at the house, heard the noise and managed to sneak out through a back door and alerted neighbours who called the police.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said Dube was arrested three days later.
‘‘The suspect together with two others, still at large, pounced at a house in Buckenhill while armed with an AK47 rifle and knives. They tied five complainants with shoe laces and threatened them with death while demanding cash,” said Asst Comm Nyathi.
“The suspects ransacked the house and stole cash amounting to ZAR36 400, US$970 and three cellphones. In the process, two male juveniles who were in the house managed to sneak out of the house through the back door and alerted neighbours who called the police. Police reacted swiftly and encountered the suspects who were about to get away in one of the complainant’s Nissan Caravan vehicle.
The suspects fled, leaving the vehicle at the gate.
“Police investigations led to the arrest of one of the suspects at Pickstone mine, Chegutu and the recovery of the AK47 rifle with a magazine of 20 rounds which was buried in a bushy area in Chivhu. Investigations are underway,” he said.
During the past few months there has been an increase in armed robbery cases in which families, businesspeople and individuals have been losing cash to criminals with most of them armed with AK47 assault rifles.
Last Friday, a Harare family lost US$4 100 cash, four tablets and a cellphone to two robbers armed with a pistol who raided their Waterfalls house.
Police in Harare recently reacted swiftly to a robbery and arrested Tapiwa Dube (33) and Tinashe Gwara (29) soon after they attacked a 20-year-old and stole a cellphone and US$300 along Joseph Msika Street (Cameron Street) near the Magaba railway flyover.
Online Reporter