BULAWAYO – Police on Friday announced the arrest of a third suspect in the investigation into a bank robbery in which $4 million was stolen in Bulawayo last October.
Bhekani Mlilo, 39, was arrested by Botswana police on July 14 while trying to enter the country from South Africa, national police spokesman Commissioner Paul Nyathi said.
“The due processes of the law are now taking effect for the suspect’s extradition to Zimbabwe,” he added.
Last week police announced the arrest of brothers Abraham Temayi Vumbunu and Elijah Temayi Vumbunu in South Africa over the October 3, 2024, gun raid at an Ecobank branch in the Bulawayo city centre.
Security guards from Safeguard were loading boxes full of cash into their van when a white Ford Ranger drove up with six armed men who jumped out, guns drawn, and disarmed the guards. The armed robbers threw the cash boxes into the Ford Ranger’s loading bay and drove off in under four minutes.
Police said they suspected the robbers had insider information. Safeguard said the bank had supplied incorrect information about how much it was moving, explaining the lax security during the cash pick-up.
A Safeguard security guard was arrested last week for allegedly aiding the robbers, but police later changed the charges to money laundering after dropping charges relating to the Ecobank robbery.
The Ecobank robbery remains the biggest cash heist in Zimbabwe’s history.
The post Police say third suspect held in $4 million Ecobank robbery appeared first on Zimbabwe News Now.