-
Seven
men
were
named
in
connection
with
a
R70
million
bank
robbery
in
Bulawayo. -
The
ringleader
was
previously
granted
amnesty,
another
was
previously
declared
dead
by
police. -
Police
say
they
currently
reside
in
South
Africa.
Police
in
Zimbabwe
are
hunting
for
seven
alleged
bank
robbers,
who
are
believed
to
be
in
South
Africa.
They
got
away
with
US$4
million
(some
R70
million),
a
record
for
the
country,
in
just
a
couple
of
minutes.
On
Thursday
last
week,
the
robbers
pounced
on
an
Ecobank
branch
in
Bulawayo.
In
under
two
minutes,
the
AK47-wielding
robbers
made
off
with
the
cash
boxes
being
unloaded
from
a
cash-in-transit
van
parked
at
the
bank’s
entrance.
Afternoon
shoppers
took
videos
and
pictures
of
the
robbery
as
it
happened.
A
week
later,
police
named
the
main
people
responsible,
who
they
believe
reside
in
South
Africa,
with
one
said
to
be
operating
a
trucking
business.
Zimbabwe
Republic
Police
(ZRP)
spokesperson,
Paul
Nyathi,
said
they
had
contacted
Interpol
for
help.
“When
a
crime
of
this
magnitude
is
committed
in
our
country
and
our
investigations
suggest
the
involvement
of
foreign
nationals
or
the
participation
of
our
citizens,
who
we
believe
skipped
our
borders,
then
we
must
involve
Interpol.
“We
are
working
together
as
a
team
and,
through
our
Criminal
Investigation
Department
headquarters,
we
have
been
able
to
engage
the
other
side
of
the
border
[South
Africa]
and
we
are
still
pursuing
the
matter,”
he
said.
The
suspects
Those
named
are
Elijah
Vumbunu,
his
brother,
Takafa
Vumbunu,
David
Sawadye,
Israel
Zulu,
Kudakwashe
Mudzingwa,
Paul
Chinake,
and
Brian
Murape.
Elijah
is
said
to
be
the
ring
leader.
He
has
a
storied
life
of
crime.
In
2018,
he
was
a
beneficiary
of
a
presidential
amnesty,
having served
14
years
of
a
40-year
sentence for
armed
robbery.
Upon
his
release,
he
spoke
about
what
he
had
lost
while
in
jail.
“It
had
been
communicated
to
me
that
my
wife
had
moved
on
and
it
hurt,
but
I
just
accepted
that
I
had
been
away
for
14
years
–
she
could
not
have
waited
that
long.
After
all,
she
was
only
18
years
old
when
I
left
her,”
he
said.
Since
then,
he
has
featured
as
an
alleged
ring
leader
in
numerous
unsolved
robberies
in
Zimbabwe.
Before
Ecobank,
he
was implicated with
his
brother,
Tafaka,
and
Zulu
in
a
2022
attack
on
a
How
Mine
security
convoy,
which
was
robbed
of
11.9kg
of
gold
(worth
about
R14.5
million)
and
US$650
000
cash
(more
than
R11
million).
Last
year,
police
said
Zulu
had
been
“neutralised”
in
an
exchange
of
gunfire
with
officers
who
were
hunting
him.
Now,
they
say
he’s
alive.
Too
much
money
The
police
announced
that
US$4
million
had
been
taken
by
the
robbers,
an
amount
numerous
bankers
argue
was
strange
to
be
kept
at
a
bank
branch,
instead
of
a
cash
depot.
Safeguard,
the
contracted
security
company,
said
it
had
no
idea
that
it
was
going
to
transport
such
a
figure.
Andrew
Mallon,
the
chief
executive
officer
of
Safeguard,
in
a
letter
addressed
to
clients,
said
they
should
stick
to
agreed-upon
limits
for
the
movement
of
cash
to
avoid
what
occurred
at
Ecobank.
“A
four
million
dollar
move
obviously
poses
a
significant
risk
and
is
well
outside
any
contracted
limit
for
Safeguard
and
almost
certainly
the
security
industry
Africa-wide,”
he
said.
More
robberies
In
Zimbabwe,
the
police
adopted
a
shoot-to-kill
policy
for
armed
robbers.
In
August,
police
shot
and
killed
two
people
from
two
gangs
in
two
separate
raids.
Others
were
wounded
and
taken
into
custody.
Just
under
a
week
after
the
Ecobank
heist,
an
artisanal
gold
miner
in
Esigodini,
45
kilometres
south
of
Bulawayo,
was
raided
at
home
and
lost
US$45
000
(some
R800
000).
On
the
same
day
in
Harare,
the
police
said
an
armed
group
of
eight
raided
a
security
company
and
made
off
with
US$23
175
in
cash,
five
firearms,
seven
pepper
sprays,
and
seven
sets
of
handcuffs.
Police
and
soldiers
in
numerous
instances
have
been
implicated
in
robberies.
In
some
cases,
they
have
been
arrested.
Most
recently
in
September,
two
policemen
and
a
soldier,
part
of
a seven-men gang,
appeared
in
court
to
face
11
counts.
The
latest
available
data
from
the
Zimbabwe
National
Statistics
agency
revealed
that,
between
2020
and
2021,
there
was
an
average
of
25
armed
robberies
per
day
in
the
country.