Notorious Tsholotsho armed robber nabbed

One of the most-wanted armed robbers who has  allegedly been raiding supermarkets and fuel service stations at gunpoint in Bulawayo since last year was yesterday hauled before the courts facing armed robbery charges.

Menzi Ncube, 30, of Tsholotsho and his two colleagues who are still at large, made headlines for their daring robbery spree when they allegedly raided Choppies Supermarket, Trek Service Station, Ascot Service Station, Mzilikazi Supermarket and Munyoro Ecocash booth among others.

Magistrate Gladmore Mushove denied the accused bail and remanded him in custody to March 18 on grounds that he has been illegally travelling to South Africa since 2005 without any documents and it would be easy for him to abscond.

He also stated that Ncube's wife was in South Africa hence he has no property in the country or anything to lose. He said granting him bail would jeopardise efforts of locating the other two accused persons still at large.

It is the State's case that on December 17, 2013 at around 7:00pm, Ncube and his accomplices allegedly proceeded to Cup Trading Supermarket at Munyoro Shopping Centre in Nkulumane with silver pistols where one of them fired a single shot at the ceiling and ordered all shoppers to lie down.

Video footage from the supermarkets surveillance system presented to the police showed Ncube fired at the shop office where the owner Joseph Nemazuva was seated and demanded money while his colleagues gathered employees and customers.

Ncube was told that cash was in the tills where he went and collected $600 before the trio raided the next shop on the same night.

About 15 minutes later, the trio approached TZ Supermarket soon after robbing Cup Trading and they threatened employees with their guns before grabbing supervisor Angela Mudzamiri and robbing her of $92.

Soon after holding up TZ Supermarket, the three robbers stormed  Mako Night Sports Bar five minutes later, where they allegedly met an employee Constance Dube at the main door and pointed a gun at her head before firing a single shot in the air and ordered everyone to cooperate.

The accused took $127 and a Samsung cellphone before approaching a patron Webster Munyaradzi and robbing him of $300 before fleeing.

It is stated that soon after raiding Munyoro Shopping Centre, the trio went to Sekusile Shopping Centre where they approached an Ecocash kiosk and robbed the attendant  of $1 050 at gunpoint.

On December 28, 2013 at 10:15pm, the trio allegedly pounced on Trek fuel station at Mpopoma where they approached petrol attendant Andy Moyo and pretended they wanted to buy cigarettes before proceeding to the reception where they ordered a shift supervisor Xolani Ncube to surrender $3 400 at gunpoint.

The court further heard that on January 5, the accused stormed Choppies Supermarket where they fired two shots at the ceiling and took all the money from six tills before fleeing in an omnibus they hijacked that was parked outside the shop.

The trio allegedly approached Nketa 6 Service Station where they robbed $450 before launching a $2 700 heist at Mzilikazi Supermarket.

The robber also grabbed $600 at an all-day Medical Centre at Nketa 6 during the robberies.

Ncube was identified by one witness while he was strolling in the city with his accomplice Justice Nkomo who managed to escape.