MASVINGO – A haulage truck driver wanted in connection with a consignment of cough syrup and mbanje escaped into the darkness after jumping from his moving vehicle during a police operation in Masvingo, then apparently made one final call to his employers: he was resigning and had abandoned the truck.
48-year-old Dzikamai Chimunda of Southlands Park in Harare, is now the subject of a police manhunt after the dramatic escape on August 5. The operation began on the Masvingo-Beitbridge Highway, where officers acting on information about suspected smuggling stopped a Freightliner Argosy truck at the 120km peg.
The vehicle, owned by Bindura Haulage Pvt Ltd and carrying two trailers, was searched after it was intercepted. Police said they recovered 370 bottles of 100ml Broncleer cough syrup, 120 bottles of 100ml Astra cough syrup and approximately 20kg of mbanje. The consignment was valued at more than US$5,000.
The arrest did not end the operation. According to the police account, Chimunda was taken into custody and was being escorted to the Criminal Investigations Department Drugs and Narcotics section in Masvingo when he made his escape. He reportedly jumped from the moving police vehicle near the Nyanda area and disappeared into a nearby forest.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police later appealed to members of the public for information that could lead to his arrest. Chimunda’s name, age and address were included in the appeal, along with details of the truck and the substances recovered from it.
The escape itself had begun earlier, near the Exor service station in Masvingo. Detectives who had received a tip-off about the truck ordered Chimunda to pull over and requested permission to search it. Instead, he allegedly drove away at high speed. He later slowed down, opened the opportunity to leave the cab and jumped into nearby bush.
The unattended truck continued along the road. Detectives managed to bring it under control before it crashed into other vehicles, preventing what could have become a serious road accident involving a heavy vehicle and its two trailers.
The next morning, Chimunda reportedly telephoned his employers. He told them he was resigning and that he had left the truck in Masvingo. The call, made after the overnight pursuit and escape, added an unusual final turn to an already extraordinary police operation. His current whereabouts remain unknown.
Police described the recovered items as unregistered medicines and mbanje. Broncleer and Astra cough syrups are liquid pharmaceutical products, while mbanje is cannabis. The quantities found in the truck indicate that the vehicle was being used to move a mixed consignment rather than a small amount intended for personal use.
The official account of the search stated: “A search was conducted into the vehicle leading to the recovery of 370 x 100ml bottles of Broncleer cough syrup, 120 x 100ml bottles of Astra cough syrup and approximately 20kg of mbanje.”
The case has placed renewed attention on the Masvingo-Beitbridge corridor, a major route linking central Zimbabwe with the country’s busiest border crossing. The highway carries commercial traffic, passenger vehicles and freight moving between Zimbabwe and South Africa. Its long stretches of road and heavy overnight traffic make intelligence-led checks an important part of anti-smuggling operations.
The truck was stopped during an operation aimed at disrupting the movement of contraband along that route. Police officers had acted on information before the vehicle reached its destination, rather than relying only on a routine roadblock. The seizure followed the tip-off and the subsequent interception of the Freightliner.
The episode also underlines the risks that arise when a heavy commercial vehicle is abandoned during a pursuit. A truck with two trailers can take a considerable distance to stop, particularly after travelling at speed. In this case, the detectives stopped it before it struck other vehicles, but the incident unfolded on a public highway in the middle of the night.
The police appeal asks anyone with information about Chimunda to report it at the nearest police station. Officers are continuing to look for him as investigations into the drugs and medicines recovered from the truck proceed.
The Masvingo incident comes amid a series of drug and medicine seizures along Zimbabwe’s southern transport routes. In March, police in Beitbridge arrested two people after cough syrup was found hidden beneath the chassis of a Volvo FH truck at the border post. The consignment included 13 boxes containing 50 bottles each of Broncleer cough syrup, 40 boxes containing 48 bottles each of Benylin cough syrup and 44 boxes containing 48 bottles each of Astra Pain cough syrup.
On the same day, officers acting on a tip-off searched a Toyota Hilux towing a trailer carrying five coffins with dead bodies and groceries. They recovered more cough syrup hidden inside the coffins. The haul included 26 boxes containing 48 bottles each of Benylin, three boxes containing 48 bottles each of Astra Pain and two boxes containing 50 bottles each of Broncleer.
That earlier seizure showed how commercial and personal transport can be adapted to conceal pharmaceutical products. In the Masvingo case, the suspected drugs were being moved in a long-distance haulage truck, while the Beitbridge operation involved concealment under a truck chassis and inside coffins. Together, the cases show the different methods investigators are encountering along the country’s southern routes.
A further case in July involved a police detective attached to the CID Drugs and Narcotics Unit in Beitbridge. The officer appeared in court after being accused of bringing mbanje and unregistered pharmaceutical medicines into Zimbabwe through illegal crossing points along the Limpopo River. Police alleged that the suspect transported the consignment in a private vehicle and that detectives later recovered 40.8kg of mbanje and 200 bottles of 100ml Broncleer cough syrup.
The July seizure was estimated at a street value of US$50,960. It followed an intelligence operation involving information about the movement and intended distribution of the drugs. The case showed that investigators were examining not only couriers and drivers but also the networks used to obtain, transport and distribute the substances.
The quantities in the Chimunda case are smaller than those recovered in the July operation, but the method of movement was different. The suspected consignment travelled in a freight vehicle with two trailers, a type of transport capable of covering long distances and crossing several police jurisdictions. The driver’s disappearance has now become a central part of the investigation.
Police have not announced an arrest since the appeal was issued. They have, however, released enough information for people along the Masvingo-Beitbridge route, in Masvingo and in Harare to recognise the wanted man and the truck connected to the case.
The search for Chimunda continues against the backdrop of intensified efforts to intercept unregistered medicines and cannabis before they reach markets. Every seizure removes a consignment from circulation, but the cases also show the range of routes, vehicles and concealment methods used by suspected traffickers.
For investigators, the immediate task is to locate the missing driver, establish how the consignment was loaded and trace the intended destination and recipients. For motorists who were on the highway that night, the urgent concern was more immediate: bringing a driverless truck under control before it caused a collision.
Chimunda’s reported phone resignation remains the strangest detail in the case. After abandoning a truck packed with suspected contraband and escaping into a forest, he reportedly contacted the company that employed him to announce that he was leaving his job. The call did not reveal where he had gone. Instead, it marked the last known contact before the manhunt began.
Police are asking anyone who knows Chimunda’s whereabouts or has information about his movements to contact any nearest police station. The truck has been recovered, the suspected contraband is in police hands and the driver remains missing.