A Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) member was on Sunday night
arrested in Chegutu by National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) security guards
after he was caught red-handed stealing copper cables while three other people
were nabbed the same day in Gweru on similar charges.
NRZ spokesperson Nyasha Maravanyika confirmed the
developments and revealed that there was strong suspicion that powerful
politicians were behind syndicates of copper cable thieves since habitual
culprits normally mysteriously end up scot-free.
“I can confirm that our security guards in Chegutu and
Gweru on Sunday night arrested thieves who were digging up underground copper
cables which are used for signal communication for our personnel in trains
along the railway lines. In Chegutu, the person arrested was a soldier and he
is Corporal Witness Mpofu. As for Gweru, the culprits were ordinary civilians
who reside in that city,” he said.
Mpofu, whose force number was recorded as 80127F of Pomona
Barracks, resides in Pfupajena suburb in Chegutu.
He was allegedly caught digging up copper cables at the
390km peg between Bedford and Mupfure siding on the NRZ map.
Those arrested in Gweru were identified as Johannes Tsikira
of Mkoba 10 Gweru, Owen Phiri (29) and Elfat Ncube (35) both of Mkoba 9. They
were found digging up the copper cables at Dabuka NRZ Station.
Midlands provincial police spokesperson Inspector Joel Goko
yesterday said he was travelling to Bulawayo so was unable to give details of
the incident.
Maravanyika said the value of the stolen cables in Chegutu
and Gweru would be evaluated in Bulawayo.
“The trend we are seeing is that in most of the cases, the
people who are arrested are the same on different occasions, which means they
will be repeat offenders,” he said.
“This raises suspicion that powerful politicians and
businesspeople must be behind the syndicates which is why they find their way
out of custody after we hand them over to the police.”
Meanwhile, police in Chegutu on Sunday morning arrested
Obert Mugati (33) and Tendai Sekai Ndimi (33) after their vehicle was found
carrying rolls of copper conductors weighing 550kg.
National police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Blessmore
Chishaka said two other occupants of the Nissan Caravan commuter omnibus
escaped. He said the conductors were stolen from Unki Mine in Shurugwi. Newsday
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