Armed Robbers Hit AFC Bank, Get Away With US$9,800 And ZiG152,000

Four armed robbers wearing balaclavas broke into AFC Bank at Murambinda Growth Point at about 1 am on Wednesday and got away with US$9,807 and ZiG152,190 in cash.

The robbers assaulted and injured security guard Tadius Chimuka, 30, who was on duty at the bank.

Chimuka and another guard, Upenyu Mudiwa of Salphire Security, had their hands and legs tied before the gang broke in and stole the money.

Acting Manicaland police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Wiseman Chinyoka confirmed the incident to Chipinge Times.

He said that at around 1 am, Mudiwa was guarding the Murambinda Town Board Survey Offices when four men wearing balaclavas and armed with pistols approached him. They threatened to kill him if he shouted for help or tried to move, then tied him up with shoelaces.

The gang marched him to the AFC Bank perimeter wall and forced their way onto the premises by breaking part of the wall with an iron bar.

They then confronted Chimuka, of Chikwekwete Village, who works for Guardian Security and was guarding the bank. He was struck with an unknown object once on the back of the head and once on the mouth.

The robbers disarmed Chimuka of his pistol and tied both guards with shoelaces. They marched them about 40 metres from the bank and ordered them to lie on their stomachs while one suspect kept watch.

Three of the men went back to the bank, broke the padlocks on the screen door, and drilled through a wall into the vault. They used a grinder to open the vault and stole US$9,807 and ZiG152,190 from a safe inside.

After the robbery, the suspects marched the guards to a toilet, locked them in, and fled. Police later recovered Chimuka’s pistol in the bank yard.

As of last week, no arrests had been made, and none of the stolen cash had been recovered.

More: Masvingo Mirror