Police will continue to apply greater pressure on those committing serious crimes, with armed robbers a particular target, Commissioner General Godwin Matanga has said. Speaking at the return of 19 police officers who recently returned after being deployed in South Sudan on a United Nations peacekeeping mission, the Commissioner General said there would be less armed robbery if people and businesses did not keep large sums of cash hoarded at home and in workplaces.
“I wish to reiterate that the perpetrators of the heinous
crime must be sniffed out from wherever they may opt to hide,” he said in a
speech read on his behalf by Deputy Comm-Gen Learn Ncube.
The warning comes amid an increase in cases of armed
robberies in which criminals are targeting companies and people with huge
amount of money. But the police would continue to mount pressure until all
perpetrators are brought to book.
“We must never give them any breathing space, the more they
feel the heat, the better for the citizens,” he said. “I wish to reassure all
Zimbabweans that the Zimbabwe Republic Police is working flat out to arrest
perpetrators of these armed robberies whilst also encouraging everyone to play
their part in preventing them from occurring.” “This has become a worrisome
trend which we, as the police, feel is being exacerbated by inappropriate
behaviour by individuals and organisations alike, who against the wisdom of
banking their cash, are choosing to keep it in their homes and offices.”
He also urged members of the public to stop acting in a way
that invites criminals to their door steps and urged them to always keep huge
sum of money in banks.
“Let me take this opportunity to implore our people to
desist from such behaviour as it invites criminals to their doorsteps.
This is not to say that our citizens should live in fear of
crime but should also take the necessary steps to complement our efforts to rid
society of the malady of crime,” he said.
Last week, suspected members of the robbery gang that hit
ABC Auctions in Seke were arrested and appeared in court whilst another suspect
was fatally shot when hit in a shoot-out with police.
The family of Shadreck Njowa, the alleged mastermind behind
the heist in January last year at Gwebi River Bridge along the Harare Chirundu
Road of a cash-in-transit vehicle moving for ZB Bank US$2,7 million and $43
000, was arrested in Harare last Wednesday.
Njowa who had been on the run for nearly two years was
eventually apprehended at a house in Highfield where he has been hiding, a sign
that the ZRP is committed to promote a crime free environment. Herald
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