Carjacking syndicate busted

SEVEN suspected car jackers, including four employees of a local car sale, believed to be part of a syndicate that has been targeting and stealing vehicles parked at houses and business premises in and around the city have been arrested.

Christopher Mukodza (35), Roy Shamu (35) all of Mabvuku, Samuel Mavima (43) of Hatfield, Bradwell Mashanyare (35) of Glen Norah B, Robson Kamanga (32) of Snake Park, Carrington Mutevera (43) and Vladimir Mupamombe (43) all of Budiriro 4 are expected to appear in court today.  

Following the arrests, police have so far recovered seven vehicles — a Honda Fit, a Toyota IST, Nissan Atlas, Toyota Allion, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Runx and an Isuzu KB 250 pickup truck which were stolen in separate incidents this month alone.

The vehicles were recovered after being sold to people in and around the city and most of them had no registration number plates while others had fake number plates.

Investigations also revealed that the suspects would also change the vehicle's engine and chassis numbers before selling them to unsuspecting people.  It is believed that most of them were sold through car sales. Detectives from the CID Vehicle Theft Squad (VTS) were yesterday still investigating the case with a view to recover more vehicles, believed to have been stolen by the suspects.

National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the arrests and said investigations were still in progress.

Investigations revealed that on July 9 this year, one of the complainants parked her vehicle, a white Honda Fit without registration number plates, at her house in Mt Pleasant after closing all the windows and locking the doors.

The following morning at around 6am, she discovered that the vehicle had been stolen and a report was made to the police. On Tuesday, detectives received information that the stolen vehicle was being sold at Enterprise Car Sale in the city and they reacted swiftly.

The owner of the vehicle was also informed and she managed to identify the vehicle after using the original car keys to unlock it and switching on the engine. The vehicle's engine and chassis numbers had been tampered with. Police then arrested Mukodza, Shamu, Mavima and Mashanyare who were selling the car, but they indicated that they had been given the vehicle by Kamanga.

Kamanga was later arrested and he implicated his two other accomplices — Mutevera and Mupamombe. They then led police to the recovering of the other six vehicles which they had sold to various people.  

Cases of cars being stolen while they are parked have been on the increase countrywide and police have been urging the public to ensure that they take precautionary measures to curb such cases. Last week, police in Esigodini were investigating circumstances surrounding a case of theft of a motor vehicle which occurred at house number 26 Habane Township.

On July 22, 2021 the victim discovered that his white Honda Fit motor vehicle had been stolen after he parked it at the yard the previous night.

In another case of theft of a motor vehicle, a Toyota Corolla vehicle was stolen after the victim parked it at the yard on July 24 at Flat 208/210 Second Street in Avondale, Harare. Another blue Honda Fit vehicle and US$1 500 which was in the vehicle, were stolen after the complainant parked the vehicle at a service station near Glen View 8 Complex.  

Police recently arrested four car jackers from Mufakose after they stole a car at a traffic intersection in Warren Park along the Harare-Bulawayo Road.

Admire Kawimbi (47), Dreka Felix Katena Mundika (60), Fullton Tom Chibvongodze (38) and Calisto Bisent (41), all from Mufakose in Harare, allegedly blocked an unsuspecting motorist and pretended to be policemen before forcing themselves into the car.