Police hunt for 20 robbery suspects

In an interview, national police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi said they were still looking for the suspects and urged people to desist from keeping large sums of cash.

Crime Reporter

Police crack teams are on the ground hunting for a gang of robbers believed to have been behind a spate of criminal activities countrywide.

The criminals were mostly targeting schools, businesspeople and individuals keeping large amounts of cash.

In an interview, national police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi said they were still looking for the suspects and urged people to desist from keeping large sums of cash.

“Our police crack teams are still on the ground and probing some of these cases. We are still conducting investigations and we are also calling upon school authorities, businesses and individuals not to keep large amounts of cash at their premises and homes, but to utilise financial institutions,” he said.

Comm Nyathi said some of these robberies were inside jobs, and urged people to avoid disclosing their financial statuses to anyone as they will end up falling victim to robbers.

Last week, police were investigating two robbery cases that occurred in Gwanda and Chipinge.

In the Gwanda incident, three robbers raided a house in Colleen Bawn and got away with over R121 000 and three cellphones.

They stabbed one of their victims on the thigh with a knife.

In the Chipinge incident, two pistols and a revolver, loaded with five rounds each, were stolen at a security company after three security guards were disarmed by 10 unknown suspects.

In Harare, police are also investigating a case of robbery which occurred at a house in Borrowdale, Harare, on June 8, 2024 at around 8;30pm in which five robbers, who were wearing balaclavas and armed with a pistol, jumped over a precast wall to gain entry before attacking the complainant.

The robbers ransacked the house and stole US$10 000 cash, a CZ pistol with a magazine of four rounds and jewellery among other valuables and fled.

Another robbery also occurred along Lobengula Road in Workington in Harare where a motorist lost US$22 301 cash to a lone robber while five robbers also attacked a family at a house in The Grange in Harare before ransacking the house and stealing US$9 500 cash and three cellphones.

In Glendale, seven robbers raided a house in Westview while wearing face masks, armed with pistols and a 14-pound hammer before attacking a housekeeper and took US$700 which was in his trousers pocket. They also broke a safe where they stole US$15 600 cash, 2.3grams of gold and a 25 kg gas tank.

Police in Southlea Park are investigating a case of robbery which occurred at a house in Fidelity Park where four robbers stole a Galesi pistol .22LR with a magazine of four rounds, two cell phones and US$5 500 cash.

They disconnected the CCTV and took the server before loading the loot into the victim’s white Toyota GD6 vehicle (AGC 1740) and drove away.

In Greendale, Harare, three robbers who were wearing face masks, armed with bricks and logs, attacked their victim before stealing jewellery valued at US$61 000 and cash amounting to US$16 800.

Recently, at least seven schools experienced armed robberies in 18 days, some of them feared to be inside jobs, as criminals sought cash and other valuables at start of the second term when parents were paying school fees.

One of the robberies was in broad daylight in Warren Park, Harare, where six men posing as parents intending to pay school fees or looking for places for their children, suddenly pointed a pistol at the headmaster before getting away with US$1 500 cash.

Others schools that were robbed were Lytton Primary School in Harare, Tafadzwa Primary School in Unit L, Seke, Widdicombe Primary School in Hatfield, Ngezi Salvation Army Secondary School in Kadoma, Glen Norah 2 High School and George Stark High School in Mbare.

Meanwhile, police are still investigating a case in which a 36-year-old man was fatally stabbed with Columbia knives by nine suspects at a mining area in Shurugwi last weekend.

The incident occurred on Saturday and police have launched a manhunt for the suspects.

“Police in Shurugwi are still investigating a case of murder in which Tyson Matarise aged 36 died after being stabbed on the head and back with Columbia knives by nine suspects for unknown reasons. This happened on June 15, 2024 at Dhija mining area,” he said.

One of the suspects was only identified as Mdhimbani, alias Mandebele.

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