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Yeukai Karengezeka Court Correspondent
A 20-year-old Bulawayo man visiting his brother in Harare lost US$5 000 after he was lured by a gang of conmen who told him they picked up some money which they could share equally.
Moses Tserayi appeared before Harare magistrate Mrs Appollonia Marutya charged with theft and was remanded in custody to Wednesday for his bail application.
The State alleged that on Thursday at Market Square Bus Terminus in Harare, Tinotenda Ndoro disembarked from a Bulawayo bus and waited for his brother at a fast-food restaurant.
Ndoro was duped by Tserayi and his accomplices into believing that there was cash that had been lost and picked up by him, which they could share.
Tserayi lured Ndoro to the Kopje area in Harare where he claimed they would have freedom and ample time to share the money.
There Tserayi and Ndoro resolved to pray first before sharing the money.
During the course of the prayer, the court heard Tserayi’s alleged accomplices turned up and identified themselves as police officers, searched the pair as a matter of procedure and took Ndoro’s US$5 000 and the fake notes that Tserayi had.
Another accomplice passed by and identified Tserayi as the person who had picked the lost money and not Ndoro.
So the alleged police officers exonerated and excused Ndoro but slapped him once and told him to run away from the scene, leaving Tserayi in the grip of his alleged three accomplices.
After a short distance, Ndoro realised that his cash had been stolen and turned back before pursuing the four suspects, whom he caught up with as they were about to cross Abdel Gamal Nassar Road.
Tserayi was eventually arrested by a police officer in plain clothes and driving a private motor vehicle.
The other three fled back into the Kopje area. Tserayi was searched and US$902 and $4 000 and 2 x US$100 fake notes were recovered from him.
The total value stolen is US$5 000.
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