A 26-YEAR-OLD Mutare man has been arrested on allegations of selling a fake diamond for $12 000 to an unsuspecting diamond dealer.
BY KENNETH NYANGANI
Daniel Tsokotai Chikotosa appeared before Mutare magistrate Innocent Bepura facing fraud allegations. He was remanded to May 26 after he was granted $200 bail.
According to prosecutor Fletcher Karombe, on May 9, the accused, who was in the company of Romio Charles Tembo, approached the complainant intending to sell him diamonds.
Tembo has since also been arrested for the same offence.
Chikotosa allegedly showed the complainant some pieces of diamonds that he was selling.
The complainant, who is not named in the State papers, informed Tembo that they should look for bigger and better quality diamonds than what the accused persons had brought.
Chikotosa informed the complainant that he had an eight-carat diamond valued at $12 000.
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The complainant gave the accused the money, who is said to have promised to bring the diamond later.
Chikotosa phoned the complainant at around 8pm and informed him that they managed to get a 9,4-carat diamond, hence, they needed $3 000 top-up.
The complainant told the accused to wait for him at 22 Miles along the Mutare-Birchenough Highway so they could pick him. The complainant drove the accused back to Mutare.
Along the way, Chikotosa allegedly gave the complainant the 9,4-carat diamond, but when it was tested, it was found to be fake.
The complainant together with the accused then drove back to 22 Miles to recover the money from the accused’s person accomplice, who was nowhere to be seen.
On their way back to Mutare while at the 22 Miles tollgate, the accused person informed the police officers at the tollgate that he had been kidnapped and was taken by the police for safety.
The accused person was taken to the Criminal Investigation Department at Mutare Central Police Station, where he was interviewed and was advised to make a police report of kidnapping, which he never did and went away.
The complainant made a police report, resulting in the arrest of Chikotosa.
