Seventy illegal gold miners, who were among 186 panners nabbed in Odzi under the ongoing police blitz dubbed Operation Chikorokoza Ngachipere/ No To Machete Gangs, were yesterday denied bail by Mutare magistrate Tendai Mahwe because they were of no fixed abode.
BY KENNETH NYANGANI
Seventy illegal gold miners, who were among 186 panners nabbed in Odzi under the ongoing police blitz dubbed Operation Chikorokoza Ngachipere/ No To Machete Gangs, were yesterday denied bail by Mutare magistrate Tendai Mahwe because they were of no fixed abode.
Haiton Brown and 69 others were remanded in custody to February 24.
Prosecutor Nyasha Mukonyori said some of the panners were found in possession of machetes.
Mukonyori also argued that releasing them would send shock and outrage in society.
It is the State’s case that on February 4, the 70 were arrested along Mutare River illegally panning for gold.
