HARARE – Police in Harare have arrested four NetOne employees in connection with the theft of over ZW$565 million worth of airtime from the telecoms company in a crime extending from December last year to this January.
Primrose Maireti, 32, James Mwanza, 35, Kumbulani Nyapfumbi, 30, and Simbarashe Mandimutsira, 27, are facing fraud and cybercrime related charges.
Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the four’s arrest Saturday.
Nyathi said the fraud suspects stole some pin-less credit airtime from their employer and sold it at a higher discount than the company usually sold to dealers.
“Police detectives teamed up with NetOne Loss Control and Fraud Management Unit to track the suspects leading to the arrest of Mwanza.
“Checks made confirmed that Mwanza received ZW$50 000 000 worth of pin-less airtime from the deal,” Nyathi said.
Mwanza is said to have implicated Maireti and others.
Nyathi said investigations have revealed that a total of ZW$565, 999, 964 worth of airtime was stolen from December 3, 2022 to 19th January this year.
“NetOne employees were sharing the loot with the airtime dealers,” he said.
Police have since recovered a Honda Fit motor vehicle registration number AFW 6813 from Nyapfumbi, which was bought through the loot.
Investigations have also revealed that he bought a residential stand for US$11,000 and another Honda Fit vehicle chassis number GE6-1744428 for US$3,971.
The vehicle is on its way from Japan.
“The Zimbabwe Republic Police will ensure that company employees and their accomplices face the full wrath of the law for fraudulent activities,” Nyathi said.
