Seven suspected armed robbers, among them police officers,
who were masquerading as soldiers, pounced on businessman Jayesh Shah and
robbed him of over $90 000 after accusing him of planning to assassinate
President Emmerson Mnangagwa and sponsoring the G40 faction in Zanu PF.
One of the suspects, Fortune Sibanda (31), a former police
officer, appeared before Harare magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa, who remanded him
in custody to December 28 and advised him to apply for bail at the High Court.
Sibanda is on bail pending appeal over another heist for
which he was sentenced to four years after robbing another businessman of $56
000 early this year at a fake roadblock.
Shah is the owner of Gift Investments, a company which
imports buses for Zimbabwe United Passengers Company.
It is the State’s case that on November 28 this year,
Sibanda, in the company of Elvis Machinga, Vengai Shoko, Gift Chimuka, one
Banga, Matuke, Maruke and others, whose names are not yet known and are still
at large, drove to the complainant’s offices in Avondale West.
They confronted a security guard purporting to be military
police. The suspects produced pistols and ordered the security guard to
surrender the gate keys.
It is alleged they unlocked the gate and while inside, they
lied that they were on a State-sanctioned operation. The suspects later went
away after they failed to locate the complainant.
On the following day at around 9am, the suspects returned
to the complainant’s premises and forcibly entered his office.
Inside, they accused Shah of dealing with former government
ministers Ignatius Chombo and Saviour Kasukuwere and sponsoring the G40 faction
in a conspiracy to assassinate Mnangagwa.
The gang allegedly ransacked Shah’s office and stole $15
000, 410 Singapore dollars, 3 050 Dubai dhiram, 16 000 Thai bhat and 4 000 Hong
Kong dollars.
They dragged Shah and his secretary, Louise Smith into his
Hyundai Sonata vehicle and drove to Rainbow Towers Hotel.
The suspects threatened Shah with detention at Josiah
Magama Tongogara Barracks and with severe assault. They searched him and stole
$6 000 from his wallet.
The court heard they forced him to disclose where he kept
more money and the complainant succumbed to threats and he told them it was at
his Gift Investment Company premises in Southerton.
The suspects ordered the complainant to summon his wife
with keys to that premises and she arrived.
They drove off to the premises and the suspects stole $70
000 cash from the safe.
They then went to the complainant’s place of residence and
ransacked the house, but could not get anything.
The suspects later gave the complainant $4 500 cash and
ordered him to flee the country and not return and they went away with the
loot.
Meanwhile, a Harare taxi driver, Gift Chamuka (38), who was
arrested as an alleged accomplice of the alleged bogus soldiers, is applying
for bail at the High Court.
In his bail application, Chamuka denies involvement in the
robbery, saying that he was only hired as a driver by the other accused
persons.
“He (Chamuka) will state that as confirmed by the State
outline, he is a taxi driver. He will further state that on the day of the
alleged commission of the offence on November 28, 2017, he parked his vehicle
in Harare central business district at corner Kwame Nkrumah Avenue and Angwa
Street waiting for customers. At around 9am, he was approached by some three
people as potential customers and they told him they wanted to hire a taxi to a
place in Avondale,” he said in his application. Newsday
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