News / Regional
Two cops, immigration officer arrested for taking R500 bribe
26 Sep 2013 at 13:31hrs | Views
Two police officers and an immigration officer deployed at Beitbridge Border Post have been arrested by the police anti corruption unit for taking a R500 bribe from five undocumented immigrants who illegally cross into Zimbabwe.
Robson Tapfuma (30) an accounts assistant at the department of immigration along with Rangarirai Makuavaza (30) and Meluleki Sibanda (30) who are both police officers were arrested by the crack team soon after taking the bribe on 23 September.
The trio who have been charged with criminal abuse of duty as a public officers as defined in Section 171 (1) of the Criminal Law (Reform and Codification) Act, Chapter 9.23.
They all denied being on the wrong side of the law when they appeared before Mr Innocent Bepura yesterday for a fast track trial.
Two witnesses have since testified against the trio and they were remanded to October 1 on $200 bail for continuation of trail.
Tapfuma , Makuavaza and Sibanda were also ordered to reside at their given address and not to interfere with ongoing police investigations as part of their bail conditions.
The state led by Mr Foster Abheki alleges that on the 23rd of September in the evening ,an MIV coach arrived at Beitbridge Border Post from South Africa enroute to Harare.
He said among the passengers were five undocumented immigrants.
Mr Abheki said whilst at the border, the passengers enlisted the services of the bus crew for assistance to cross into the country.
They were then told to give the bus driver, Martin Mutasa R100 each which was to be given to the trio.
He said the bus crew then completed all the immigration and customs formalities before driving to the last immigration check point where they were then stopped by the accused persons.
The three accused persons physically checked passports from all passengers in the bus and discovered that they were five undocumented passengers.
When they attempted to arrest the border jumpers they were then given R500 by Mutasa.
After which they allowed the bus to proceed into the country, unbeknown to them their actions have been under the watchful eyes of the police anti corruption team.
The anti corruption team stopped the bus immediately and conducted another checklist of the passengers leading to the discovery of the offence where the border jumpers indicated that they had paid R500 for passage.
It was then established that Tapfuma had received R200 while the cops had shared R150 each, the money was however not recovered.
Under the provisions of the Immigration Act, all illegal immigrants (Zimbabweans) coming into the fine are liable to pay a fine of R100 or $10 for entry by evasion.
Robson Tapfuma (30) an accounts assistant at the department of immigration along with Rangarirai Makuavaza (30) and Meluleki Sibanda (30) who are both police officers were arrested by the crack team soon after taking the bribe on 23 September.
The trio who have been charged with criminal abuse of duty as a public officers as defined in Section 171 (1) of the Criminal Law (Reform and Codification) Act, Chapter 9.23.
They all denied being on the wrong side of the law when they appeared before Mr Innocent Bepura yesterday for a fast track trial.
Two witnesses have since testified against the trio and they were remanded to October 1 on $200 bail for continuation of trail.
Tapfuma , Makuavaza and Sibanda were also ordered to reside at their given address and not to interfere with ongoing police investigations as part of their bail conditions.
The state led by Mr Foster Abheki alleges that on the 23rd of September in the evening ,an MIV coach arrived at Beitbridge Border Post from South Africa enroute to Harare.
He said among the passengers were five undocumented immigrants.
Mr Abheki said whilst at the border, the passengers enlisted the services of the bus crew for assistance to cross into the country.
They were then told to give the bus driver, Martin Mutasa R100 each which was to be given to the trio.
He said the bus crew then completed all the immigration and customs formalities before driving to the last immigration check point where they were then stopped by the accused persons.
The three accused persons physically checked passports from all passengers in the bus and discovered that they were five undocumented passengers.
When they attempted to arrest the border jumpers they were then given R500 by Mutasa.
After which they allowed the bus to proceed into the country, unbeknown to them their actions have been under the watchful eyes of the police anti corruption team.
The anti corruption team stopped the bus immediately and conducted another checklist of the passengers leading to the discovery of the offence where the border jumpers indicated that they had paid R500 for passage.
It was then established that Tapfuma had received R200 while the cops had shared R150 each, the money was however not recovered.
Under the provisions of the Immigration Act, all illegal immigrants (Zimbabweans) coming into the fine are liable to pay a fine of R100 or $10 for entry by evasion.
Source - Byo24News
