Three businessmen were held at gunpoint as four robbers broke into their Harare premises, tied one victim with a phone charger and fled in a car belonging to one of the men.
Three businessmen were robbed of cash, mobile phones and a Honda Fit when four masked men raided their office in Milton Park, Harare, at about 8.30pm on Tuesday, October 20.
The men, armed with pistols and iron bars, took property valued at US$49,925, including the vehicle, and escaped. Nothing had been recovered by the time the case was reported.
The victims were identified as Mahesh Nayini, Kudakwashe Malonda and a businessman known only as Alemela. The robbery unfolded in two stages, beginning when Nayini was alone inside the premises.
Nayini was watching television when he heard a noise coming from the dining room. He looked through a window and saw three men wearing balaclavas. He ran into another room and locked himself inside.
The intruders smashed a screen door and a window with an iron bar to get into the rooms. They found Nayini, restrained him with a phone charger cable and searched the premises.
They took US$19,000 from a drawer and US$1,100 from a drawer at reception. Nayini’s Samsung Galaxy A07, valued at US$300, was also stolen.
The attack continued when Malonda arrived at the office in his Honda Fit with Alemela. One of the robbers opened the gate and let the car into the premises. A robber then pointed a firearm at Alemela and forced the men towards the backyard, where all three were ordered to lie on the ground.
Alemela was robbed of US$3,000, a Samsung A-series phone and another smartphone. The attackers searched Malonda’s vehicle and took a Samsung A32 and an iPhone X5 before driving off in the Honda Fit.
The car belonged to Malonda, who had been using it to take Alemela from a warehouse in Ridgeview to their Milton Park offices. The total value of the stolen property was put at US$49,925. The case was recorded at Milton Park Police Station under reference number RRB 7079734.
National police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi could not be reached for comment.
The Milton Park attack comes amid a number of separate armed robbery cases reported across Zimbabwe in recent weeks, including incidents involving homes, businesses, motorists and shops.
In Bulawayo, six men appeared in court on October 21 over an attempted robbery at a tuckshop at Warringham plots, on the city’s outskirts. The incident took place on October 14, when a group entered the shop and opened fire after demanding money from workers.
The businessman who ran the tuckshop returned fire with a licensed 9mm pistol, forcing the group to flee without taking any property. No one was injured. Police recovered four spent 9mm cartridges at the scene, while a search in nearby bush led to the discovery of one suspect and a pellet gun.
The six men who appeared in court were Thabo Ndlovu, Mennerd Sibanda, Forward Dube, Prince Makhaza, Lerato Takane and Norman Hadebe. Five were based in Johannesburg and Hadebe lived in Magwegwe North, Bulawayo. They were remanded in custody to October 30.
In Beitbridge, Courage Siziba, 30, appeared before a regional magistrate on October 26 facing 15 counts linked to a series of alleged robberies between August and October 8. The reported cases involved homes, business premises and motorists in Beitbridge Urban. His alleged accomplice, Trust Mugombe, remained at large.
The charges include robberies at a bus stop, houses and a service station. At Energy Park Service Station on September 27, the group is accused of taking US$2,382 from a safe and cash from employees after holding them at gunpoint. The overall value of property attributed to the Beitbridge cases was reported as US$38,215, R262,900 and ZiG13,000. Property valued at US$35,100 and R250,000 had been recovered, along with a Rossi .38 Special revolver and ammunition.
A separate police investigation announced in early October concerned three armed robberies in Harare and Kwekwe, with cash and valuables estimated at more than US$1.2 million. Tendai Nzvenga, 39, was arrested in Mpopoma, Bulawayo, on September 30. The cases included a robbery at N. Richards Shop in Graniteside, an incident in Marlborough involving about US$597,000 in cash and valuables, and a robbery at a cement company in Redcliff, where the reported loss was about US$600,612.
The Milton Park victims’ losses were smaller than those reported in some of these other cases, but the office raid involved the same direct threat to people at the scene: armed intruders, victims forced to the ground and property taken at gunpoint. In Milton Park, the robbers left with cash, several phones and a vehicle that had brought one of the victims to work.
Further details in the Harare and Kwekwe investigation put the reported losses in each case at US$38,316, R1,950 and ZiG74,370 at N. Richards Shop in Graniteside; about US$597,000 in Marlborough; and approximately US$600,612 at the Redcliff cement company. Two other men, Dingani Mpofu, 49, and Witness Hlongwane, 40, had already been arrested and remanded in custody. Police said information that Nzvenga was hiding in Mpopoma led detectives to him. Those cases are separate from the Milton Park raid, where the robbers used the Honda Fit taken from the businessmen to leave the scene.