Police in Harare have attributed the recent upsurge in robbery and carjacking cases to the release on bail of 89 suspected armed robbers between January and February this year.
Harare provincial police spokesperson Inspector James Sabau said the city had experienced an unprecedented spate of robberies over the past few months, adding most of these were linked to the suspects released this year either after completing their jail terms or on bail.
Sabau said an 83-year-old Harare man was killed in cold blood on Sunday after armed robbers pounced on his family home in Borrowdale and got away with an Isuzu KB280 vehicle.
“To worsen the situation, most of them (suspects) give fake addresses when they are released and when we try to make a follow-up we do not find them there,” he said.
Police had so far failed to account for at least 53 of the suspects released on bail.
“That justifies our suspicion that the released armed robbers are the ones who are terrorising residents. On March 25, robbers pounced on a Borrowdale couple leaving the husband dead after attacking him with a metal object. The robbers then took the couple’s vehicle and drove off.”
Sabau said police were also investigating two other robbery and carjacking cases which occurred in Emerald Hill on March 22 and March 23.
