Quartet charged for stealing deadly explosives

KADOMA - A FOUR-MEMBER robbery gang pounced on two Kadoma gold mines, early this month and allegedly stole an assortment of explosives and other valuable property, NewsDay reports.

The four suspects, Jephres Sedeya (26), Farirai Mutsvuke (34), Benjamin Tom (23) and Lovemore Baja (21), last Friday appeared before magistrate Kadoma magistrate Takudzwa Gwazemba facing two counts of unlawful entry and robbery.

The State's case is that on November 8 this year and at Chichaya's Hilltop Mine, Eiffel Flats, the quartet stormed Chichaya's Hilltop Mine in Eiffel Flats and pelted a security guard manning the area with stones before they pounced on a vault where the explosives were stored and got away with 140 megamite emulates, 71 fuses and 35-metre igniter cords.

Two days later, the gang, which was armed with machetes, knives and catapults, proceeded to Tinzweiwo Mine in Kadoma where they stormed into Zexie Sithole's hut and found him asleep before threatening to harm him if he resisted to comply with their orders.

The gang demanded directions to where the mine syndicate kept its explosives. They took 26 megamite emulates, 30 fuses, 40-metre igniter cords, a jack hammer and five litres of diesel, among other property. Detectives working on a tip off later raided the quartet's places of residence and arrested them.

Sedeya and Mutsvuke pleaded guilty and were remanded to November 24 for sentencing, while Tom and Baja, who denied the charges , were remanded in custody to today for trial.