Mamudu escaped Police arrest in Masvingo on Sunday morning after he was allegedly found with a consignment of 175kg of mbanje worth US$22 000. The consignment was coming from Eswatini and passed through Beitbridge Border Post enroute to Malawi. Both suspects appeared in court on Wednesday after Military Police handed them over to Police. It is the State case that Mamudu, Limbikani Mwanandi and Njima were on an FA Roadlink Bus on their way from South Africa. The bus which carried the consignment in a trailer passed through Beitbridge Border Post on Saturday and had a breakdown at the Bulawayo turnoff in Masvingo at 1 am on Sunday. Acting on a tip-off Police officers in plain clothes waylaid the bus until a Nissan NV 350 commuter omnibus arrived from Harare and the suspects started offloading the sealed mbanje into the commuter omnibus.
Detectives
moved in and Mamudu, his son Joel and Njima allegedly escaped in a VW Polo
registration number JJ20NW GP. Mwanandi and Speakmore Mhonda (39) of 663 New
Marimba, Harare, a soldier with the Zimbabwe national Army were arrested at the
scene. Speakmore who is understood to be a son to Brigadier General Fidelis
Mhonda, the Presidential Guard commander said in his warned and cautioned
statement that he lives in the same neighbourhood with Mamudu. On the fateful
day, Mamudu phoned his son to bring their Nissan NV 350 to collect a
consignment in Masvingo where he had a breakdown. Joel who does not have a
licence then asked Mhonda to drive him to Masvingo.
It was just after they arrived at the place where the bus had a breakdown that Police moved in and arrested him. Mhonda says he didn’t even know the contents of the consignment as he was just assisting a neighbour. Some suspects also concurred in warned and cautioned statements that they saw Mhonda for the first time at the scene of the arrest. The Mirror established that CID then prepared a docket that implicated Speakmore. Police indicated that it could not find Mamudu and that is when the Military Police supposedly trying to assist its member moved in to account for the other suspects.
On Tuesday the Military Police is said to have nabbed Mamudu and Njima and handed them over to Police. Interestingly the CID docket at the courts doesn’t give details or circumstances on how Mamudu and Njima were arrested or who arrested them. However, sources said the Military Police had to move in and apprehend the two. There was significant Military Police presence at the court when Mhonda appeared before Magistrate Elizabeth Hanzi for bail ruling on Thursday. He was denied bail. The source also said it raised eyebrows that the CID failed to account for the main suspect in the case when the Military Police merely pulled him out of his house. Magistrate Hanzi denied Mhonda bail after classifying him as a flight risk because he allegedly ran away from the scene when detectives identified themselves and only stopped after they fired warning shots. Mhonda who is represented by Collen Maboke of Ruvengo Maboke Legal Practitioners will be applying for bail at the High Court on Monday. Joel is still at large. Masvingo Mirror
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