News / National
Robbery cases surge in Zimbabwe
02 Sep 2015 at 06:13hrs | Views
Two business people lost $29 000 to armed robbers in separate incidents in Harare and Bulawayo over the weekend, as police continue to urge members of the public to be cautious of criminals.
Since last month, police have been warning members of the public to be wary of a syndicate of armed robbers that is raiding homes, business premises and churches during the night, targeting cash.
In one of the recent incidents, chief police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said a Bulawayo woman lost $20 000 to unknown assailants that broke into her office during the night.
"At around 17:20hours, the complainant knocked off duty after closing all the windows and locking the doors to her office," she said.
"Upon reporting for duty the following day at 07:30am, she realised that her office was broken into as the front door was open."
Snr Asst Comm Charamba said the robbers broke the metal cash box which was fixed on the floor and got away with $20 000 cash.
"Police are warning members of the public against keeping large sums of money at their business premises," she said.
"They should deposit their money at banks to avoid being victims."
Snr Asst Comm Charamba said they were also investigating another armed robbery case, which occurred in Avondale last Thursday at around 5.30pm.
"On the said date, a 33-year-old man left his workplace at Gulf Complex and proceeded to his residence with all the daily takings," she said.
"He went through his employee's residence to drop her.
"Upon arrival at his employee's residence, a white Honda CVR with no registration numbers blocked his vehicle and two unknown male adults armed with a rifle and a pick disembarked from the vehicle.
"They demanded cash and got away with $9 000 cash and other valuables."
Snr Asst Comm Charamba urged members of the public to report any suspicious vehicles and avoid travelling with huge amounts of money as they risk being tracked down by criminals.
Last week, the police said they were concerned with armed robbery cases in which criminals were pouncing on shops, tuck shops and various other business premises, getting away with large amounts of money and groceries.
Investigations have revealed that most of the criminals carry out surveillance before pouncing on their targeted victims and they would be armed with rifles, knives, iron bars or other offensive weapons.
Since last month, police have been warning members of the public to be wary of a syndicate of armed robbers that is raiding homes, business premises and churches during the night, targeting cash.
In one of the recent incidents, chief police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said a Bulawayo woman lost $20 000 to unknown assailants that broke into her office during the night.
"At around 17:20hours, the complainant knocked off duty after closing all the windows and locking the doors to her office," she said.
"Upon reporting for duty the following day at 07:30am, she realised that her office was broken into as the front door was open."
Snr Asst Comm Charamba said the robbers broke the metal cash box which was fixed on the floor and got away with $20 000 cash.
"Police are warning members of the public against keeping large sums of money at their business premises," she said.
"They should deposit their money at banks to avoid being victims."
Snr Asst Comm Charamba said they were also investigating another armed robbery case, which occurred in Avondale last Thursday at around 5.30pm.
"On the said date, a 33-year-old man left his workplace at Gulf Complex and proceeded to his residence with all the daily takings," she said.
"He went through his employee's residence to drop her.
"Upon arrival at his employee's residence, a white Honda CVR with no registration numbers blocked his vehicle and two unknown male adults armed with a rifle and a pick disembarked from the vehicle.
"They demanded cash and got away with $9 000 cash and other valuables."
Snr Asst Comm Charamba urged members of the public to report any suspicious vehicles and avoid travelling with huge amounts of money as they risk being tracked down by criminals.
Last week, the police said they were concerned with armed robbery cases in which criminals were pouncing on shops, tuck shops and various other business premises, getting away with large amounts of money and groceries.
Investigations have revealed that most of the criminals carry out surveillance before pouncing on their targeted victims and they would be armed with rifles, knives, iron bars or other offensive weapons.
Source - the herald
