Thieves steal Mnangagwa speech, laptop

POLICE in Kwekwe last Wednesday arrested three of a four-member daring gang which was on the "wanted list" for stealing a laptop, and President Emmerson Mnangagwa's speech from a car driven by one of his security aides.

Further investigations by NewsDay revealed that the same gang was on the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Masvingo's "most wanted list" for theft from cars under case number CR17/06/2020.

The notorious gang was reported in Dzivaresekwa, Harare, under case number CR155/04/20, after breaking into a vehicle belonging to Mnangagwa's unnamed aide last year, where they stole various goods including a laptop and the President's prepared Independence Day speech.

The three nabbed suspects included Tinashe Matete Dube (27) of house number 188 Glen View 3 in Harare, Trymore Jakarasi (35) of house number 6692 Pumula North in Bulawayo, and Shepherd Madaka (29) of 4820 Budiriro 3, Harare.

Dube is also facing attempted murder charges after he tried to run over a police sergeant, Misheck Mubika, after they were cornered at Cooler Box Bottlestore in Kwekwe.

This was after they had broken into a vehicle belonging to Magonziwa Shadreck Tenda, of Westgate, Harare.

The gang allegedly stole Tenda's laptop, an external hard drive, a car charger and US$60. All the stolen items were valued at US$510.

Nothing was recovered although the accused reportedly indicated that the stolen laptop was at Dube's sister's house.

A police internal memo gleaned by NewsDay dated February 17, 2021 stated that at around 5pm, police at Kwekwe Central received a report of theft from a car in the city centre.

They immediately rushed to the scene.

They asked management at Steers food outlet to replay the recorded CCTV footage, and in the process, they observed the complainant disembarking from his car, a silver Toyota D4D kingcab.

He entered the shop, and as he did so, four members of the gang disembarked from their unregistered getaway car, a silver Toyota Mark-X which was parked adjacent to the complainant's vehicle.

The investigating officer got out of the shop where he noticed a car resembling the one captured on CCTV and immediately called for police back-up.

The team used a personal vehicle to trail the suspects to Trek Service Station, along ED Mnangagwa Way, before it parked at Cooler Box Bottlestore in front of another Toyota D4D truck.

The police team leader identified himself to the gang. The driver immediately reversed and swung his door open in an attempt to hit Mubika, but missed him and rammed into the Toyota D4D.

Mubika pulled out his service pistol and shot the gang's front right and rear right tyres.

The driver then drove directly towards Mubika intending to run him over, but the police officer jumped aside, at the same time firing towards the driver, hitting him on the lower back side of the shoulder.

One of the thieves managed to escape, but the other three were immediately arrested.

Dube was rushed to Kwekwe General Hospital, where he is admitted and his condition is said to be serious.

A search was conducted at the suspects' premises, where electronic devices which enable interference with vehicle locking systems, and a home-made implement used to forcibly open locked vehicle doors were recovered.

Various other items believed to have been stolen in Harare were recovered, including a mobile phone and a vehicle AC inverter.

They are expected to appear in court tomorrow.

National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi last night said: "I'm not yet aware of the issue. I need to check."