The fugitives
face charges ranging from fraud to armed robbery. The suspects had fled to
these countries after skipping bail
while on remand in Zimbabwe.
They were
tracked down and arrested through the assistance of the International Criminal
Police Organisation (Interpol) after Zimbabwe issued Red Notices against them.
A Red Notice is
an international alert that allows police worldwide to locate, arrest and
detain fugitives wanted for prosecution or sentencing, pending extradition.
The arrests
follow close cooperation between the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), Interpol
and law enforcement agencies in the host countries.
Criminal
Investigations Department (CID) spokesperson Detective Inspector Rachel
Muteweri confirmed the developments.
“So far we have
a total of 22 suspected criminals who will be extradited back into the country
to face various charges. The due processes of the law are now taking effect for
the suspects’ extradition to Zimbabwe,” she said.
Among the
high-profile cases is the infamous US$4 million Ecobank armed robbery that
rocked Bulawayo in October 2024.
Brothers
Abraham and Elijah Temayi Vumbunu, together with their alleged accomplice,
Bhekani Mlilo, were arrested in South Africa and Botswana in connection with
the heist and are currently awaiting extradition.
The daring
robbery, which targeted a cash-in-transit operation, was one of the biggest in
recent years and exposed serious security gaps within the banking sector.
Another case
involves fugitive Shepherd Chibaya, who was recently arrested in Abu Dhabi,
United Arab Emirates, before being flown back to Harare on Monday.
Chibaya
allegedly defrauded three people of more than US$105 000 in the aftermath of
the 2021 Bevern Capital Ponzi scheme. In that scam, scores of people were lured
into depositing money with promises of a 50 percent return within six weeks.
When the scheme
collapsed, victims were left desperate to recover their savings.
Authorities say
Chibaya exploited the situation by pretending to be a fellow victim and even
positioning himself as leader of a victims’ group.
“The Zimbabwe
Republic Police confirms the arrest of Shepherd Chibaya for fraud.
“This follows
the Bevern Capital Investment scam in 2021, where several people deposited
money into the investment scheme and were promised 50 percent interest within
six weeks,” said Insp Muteweri said.
“The suspect
heard of the scam and pretended to be one of the victims, formed a group in
which he pretended to help the victims recover their money. He was subsequently
selected as the chairperson.”
He then
persuaded others to pay him on the pretext that he was pursuing legal action to
recover their money, before disappearing with the cash.
“On eight
different occasions, he approached three complainants, misrepresented that he
would facilitate the process of recovering the money and acting on the
misrepresentation, the complainants suffered a total prejudice of US$105 830.
“He was then
arrested and appeared at Harare Magistrates Court and later defaulted. A
warrant of arrest was issued on March 14, 2024, and the requisite paperwork was
done in order to place the accused person on Red Notice.”
He was placed
on Interpol’s Red Notice list in April 2025 and later arrested in the UAE.
Equally
dramatic is the case of Tawanda Hairwadzi, who was picked up in Portugal last
month after evading authorities for almost four years.
Hairwadzi and
his wife ran Eptha Energy, a transport company contracted by Addax Energy in
2021 to deliver two million litres of fuel to a Government ministry.
More than a
million litres of the consignment, valued at US$743 600, never reached the
intended destination.
Investigations
revealed that the company had shut down and Hairwadzi had gone into hiding.
Interpol issued
a Red Notice in 2022, leading to his eventual arrest in Lisbon on July 9 this
year.
He now awaits
extradition to Zimbabwe to face charges of theft of trust property. Herald
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