'Cop' flees, abondons rifle in failed robbery escapade

A Gwanda man is lucky to be alive after being shot once by a suspected police officer in Gwanda at Cobra West Mine on Friday morning.

Vumani Moyo was shot once on the hip by an unidentified person clad in police uniform before fleeing and leaving the rifle behind.

According to a police memo seen by this publication, the accused disembarked from commuter omnibus silver in color and tried to arrest the owner of the mine, Thandiwe Moyo.

It is further stated that other workers tried to intervene resulting in the "police" firing and injuring Vumani before fleeing the scene living the rifle behind.

"An unknown male accused person clad in police uniform in possession of a rifle disembarked from the vehicle and called the informant who was at the hammer mill with some of her employees. The informant went close to the accused person who asked her what was happening at the mine. The informant told the accused person that that they were milling their gold ore. The accused person informed the informant that she was under arrest and he handcuffed her.

"This did not go down well with the informant's employees who queried the arrest asking what the informant had done wrong. A misunderstanding between the accused person and the informant's employees arose which led to the accused person firing one shot which hit Vumani Moyo," read part of the police memo.

Police sources claimed that initial investigations revealed that the rifle, an AK 47 serial number ZRP2004 with 29 rounds and one used cartridge belonged to the ZRP. Efforts to get a comment from Police spokesperson Ass Comm Paul Nyathi were fruitless.

Cases of armed robberies are on the rise in the country with robbers mainly targeting mines and shops.