THREE daring Chitungwiza fraudsters allegedly edited till slips to steal cooking oil worth $1 million from a Rusape supermarket.
The three — Prince Dzikamunhenga, Last Nyatsanga and Lot
Gwesu — managed to steal from TM Pick ‘N’ Pay’s Rusape branch on eight
different occasions and were arrested on the ninth attempt.
This was after the supermarket had a stock-take which
revealed the anomaly, resulting in management increasing their surveillance
mechanism.
Dzikamunhenga, Nyatsanga and Gwesu were finally arrested
last week and appeared before Rusape magistrate, Mr Obedience Matare, facing
fraud charges.
They were remanded in custody to November 3 after Mr Matare
said they were not proper candidates for bail despite a spirited representation
by their attorney, Mr Taurai Khuphe of Khuphe and Chijara Law Chambers.
Prosecuting, Mrs Melissa Saide said the trio, working with
two other suspects who are still at large, visited the supermarket on eight
different occasions.
One of them would buy a single unit of cooking oil and get
a receipt. Instead of leaving the supermarket, they would return the bottle to
the shelf.
“They would leave the supermarket and proceed to edit the
receipt. They would return with the edited receipt and hand it over to
unsuspecting employees who would proceed to the warehouse to collect the
cartoons of cooking oil without noticing that the receipt would have been
tampered with,” said Mrs Saide.
She added: “On October 7, the accused persons, in connivance
with two other suspects who are still at large, went to TM Pick ‘N’ Pay in
Rusape were Gwesu used his mobile number 0786685794 to purchase 2-litre bottle
of cooking oil. He returned the cooking oil to the shelf and went outside the
shop with nothing.
“Together with his accomplices, they went on to edit the
receipt to misrepresent that he had bought 42x2litres of cooking oil. They went
back to the supermarket and collected the cooking oil, valued at $104 999 .
They loaded the oil in the trolley and went straight to the check point using
the forged receipt,” said Mrs Saide.
It is alleged that the accused persons went back to the
supermarket on the same day and used the same method to steal cooking oil worth
$98 999 on two different occasions.
Mrs Saide said the gang returned to the supermarket the
following day and used the same trick to steal cooking oil valued at $109 999
and $175 999 respectively.
On October 10, Mrs Saide said the suspects pounced again
and stole cooking oil valued at $134 399, $148 399 and $114 799 respectively.
Their luck run out after the supermarket conducted a
stock-take and discovered the huge shortfall, thereby prompting management to
go through the Close Circuit Television (CCTV) footage.
It was discovered that the accused persons were stealing
from the shop.
“On October 11, TM Pick ‘N’ Pay manager, Mr Simon Chadya
conducted a stock-take and discovered the shortfall. He viewed the CCTV footage
and saw the accused persons committing the offence.
On October 12, the trio went back to the shop intending to
commit the same offence.
They were identified through the CCTV and were arrested. Manica
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