A Volkswagen Polo was found abandoned at a house in the town of Norton and was used as a backup car by two robbers to escape from robbery after a shootout with the police nearby the exhibition park. The car seems registered in South Africa.
The police have taken the vehicle for forensic inspection.
A suspect was shot dead in a robbery case, while two others accomplices were severely wounded during an encounter by Harare police last Wednesday. Police arrested the two suspects accused of armed robbery, while the other two accomplices, including one from South Africa named Sean, disappeared late that night.
It’s believed that the suspects were members of the security forces.
Police then retrieved a Norinco model pistol from the scene with four bullets and a Ross .38 revolver with two bullets. Two used cartridges were also recovered. The suspects are police officers Precious Dube (40) & Dalubuhle Ndlovu (36). One suspect who was killed in the shooting was named Meluleki Makhalima.
Two of their accomplices, Michael Khanyiso Moyo (47) and Thulani Maphosa (30), a Hillbrow Zimbabwean and South African resident, were arrested. The wounded were given treatment at Parirenyatwa Hospital. Unfortunately, Makhalima didn’t recover from wounds and was declared dead when they reached the hospital.
Paul Nyathi, National Police Force spokesman and Deputy Commissioner, confirmed that a Volkswagen Polo was abandoned by two unidentified suspects, a man, and a woman, after a mechanical failure was discovered.
It has been discovered in the investigation that the suspects operated through South Africa.
Last week, CID Homicide Detectives received reports that a place in Greendale had become a target for seven armed robbers, and together with Canine Unit officers, they planned an ambush. At night, the thieves targeted a house. They had parked the two cars they were in, a dark blue Volkswagen Polo and a Volkswagen Golf registered in South Africa, and a navy blue Toyota Corolla.
The suspects attempted to dismiss the security alarm and tried to enter the house. However, they were stopped by the malicious dogs.
A robber named Maphosa had his head covered and armed with an iron bar, but the police caught him. Sensing the situation, other robbers accompanying him headed for the city. However, the police followed them, and the thieves parked the vehicle at the gas station before the encounter. Among the thieves, one opened fire, and police encountered the shooting.
The two other robbers from South Africa and Zimbabwe fled in a Volkswagen Polo. They were later caught and identified. The police also revealed that Precious Dube was already a wanted thief for a cash robbery on the 25th of November near Connemara Jail last year when around 334,000 US dollars were robbed from a Security van Fawcett.
