A gang of five armed robbers stormed Rusape Town Council offices last week but fled empty-handed after their explosives failed to blow up the cash vaults.
ZRP Manicaland acting spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Wiseman Chinyoka, confirmed the incident, saying the robbers tied up a security guard Baldwin Dumbuka and force-marched him into the council offices. Said Chinyoka:
On April 10, at around 6pm, Mr Dumbuka commenced duty at Rusape Town Council premises and everything was in order.
The following day around 1am, Mr Dumbuka was approached by five unknown males wearing balaclavas.
They were armed with iron bars and a bolt cutter. The first suspect pushed open the guardroom door and ordered Mr Dumbuka to lie down, tied his legs using blanket threads which they brought. They told him that they only needed cash, and did not want to harm him.
Four others broke into the offices, while one of them remained at the guard room guarding the complainant.
The robbers failed to locate where the safe was, and one of them returned to the guardroom, untied the complainant and force-marched him into the cash office.
The complainant showed them, and he was tied again, and ordered to lie down in the passage covered with trench coats.
Chinyoka added that the robbers allegedly used explosives in an attempt to blast open the safe, forcibly opened and ransacked several offices in search of cash, and also took the complainant’s small cellphone and two Buddie lines. They left the security guard tied up.
Despite having his legs still bound, Dumbuka managed to hop outside the offices and alerted Hatidane Zvakare, a security guard at the neighbouring Rusape Magistrates’ Court. Zvakare cut the bindings and notified the police.
Officers from ZRP Rusape Central and CID Rusape attended the scene, but no arrests were made.
On April 11, around 9:30 a.m., a team comprising Scenes of Crime (Harare), CID Rusape, and Rusape Central revisited the scene.
They confirmed that while the suspects had attempted to blast the safe, they failed to open it, and no cash was stolen.
More: The Manica Post
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