Own Correspondent
One of the affected mines belongs to prominent businessman Mabasa Chichaya.
The four suspects — Jephres Sedeya (26), Farirai Mutsvuke (34), Benjamin Tom (23) and Lovemore Baja (21) — last Friday appeared before Kadoma magistrate Takudzwa Gwazemba facing two counts of robbery and unlawful entry.
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.
The State case, led by prosecutor Clever Chikandiwa, is that on November 8 this year and at Chichaya’s Hilltop Mine, Eiffel Flats, the quartert stormed the mine 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, Kadoma, where they stormed into Zexie Sithole’s hut and found him asleep before threatening to harm him if he refused 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.
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Detectives working on a tip-off later raided the quartet and arrested them.
