A police constable, a soldier and two other accomplices have been hauled before the courts on allegations of stealing Zesa cables around Odzi since 2019, thereby causing incessant blackouts and affecting agricultural production in the farming area.
On countless occasions, the suspects allegedly cut
electricity cables during the night and later sold the loot to the police
officer who would then offload the cables on the black market at a higher
price.
To increase stealing efficiency, the implicated cop
allegedly supplied his accomplices with the bolt cutters which made it easy to
cut the electricity cables from the main grid.
The cop, Jacob Mazungunye (29) who is stationed at ZRP
Sakubva; Munyaradzi Nyamukungwa (37), a soldier with ZNA 3 Electrical and
Mechanical Engineering Company; Frank Nyahando (23) of Tenderere, Sakubva, and
Peter Zuze (36) of Area 14 in Dangamvura were charged with contravening Section
60A (3) (b) of the Electricity Amendment Act, Chapter 13:19. Detectives are
looking for the fifth suspect who disappeared following the arrest of his
accomplices.
The arrested suspects were brought to court separately on
different dates.
They appeared before Mutare magistrates, Mr Langton Carter
and Ms Prisca Manhibi and were remanded in custody.
Allegations were that on December 22, Nyahando and his
accomplices Zuze and Nyamukungwa hatched a plan to vandalise and steal ZETDC
transformer windings at Bingaguru Farm in Penhalonga.
They were using a vehicle that was being driven by
Nyamukungwa.
Armed with various spanners, mattock, a bolt cutter and a
shovel, the suspects went to the farm and cut two cables which were connecting
the transformer to the meter box and the supply line.
They hid the cables in the bush. Thereafter, they went on
to vandalise the transformer. However, this alerted a security guard who raised
alarm.
The accused persons ran away with the loot.
The court heard that after some searches around the crime
scene, the security guard discovered that one of the suspects had left behind a
pair of black sandals.
A report was made to the police who swiftly reacted and
made follow ups before arresting Nyahando who was now walking on foot.
Upon interrogation, he confessed stealing the cables
together with his accomplices who had ran away.
He told the cops that at times they would carry out the
heists with Mazungunye and a ZETDC employee who drives a company lorry.
As investigations intensified, the suspect led the cops to
Kondozi Farm where he voluntarily made positive indications confirming the
theft of armoured copper cables at the farm in 2019.
He also led detectives to Greencroft Farm in Chigodora and
confessed that he stole copper cables there in 2020.
Upon further interrogation, he told the cops that he always
supplied the loot to Mazungunye.
On December 28, Zuze was arrested at his house.
A search was conducted and the cops recovered a bolt
cutter, catapult, rubber gloves, two spanners, a hacksaw and a machete which
were allegedly used to commit the crimes.
He told the cops that sometime in June 2019, he met
Mazungunye at Green Market and they agreed to work together to steal copper
cables.
In October 2019, Zuze teamed up with Nyahando and went to
Gumbo Farm in Odzi where they cut and stole copper cables.
They phoned Mazungunye and met him at Makoni Turn-off in
Riverside. He bought the copper cables for US$60.
The suspects continued doing this and the cop would always
turn up and buy the loot.
Cables valued at $500 000 were stolen by the suspects. Manica
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