TWO soldiers are due to appear in court today facing charges of murder and armed robbery after they got away with US$40 000 in heist at a Hatfield house in Harare.
Lameck Kabara from the Zimbabwe National Defence College and Christopher Charuma, who is with the Air Force of Zimbabwe based at Manyame Airbase, were arrested on Sunday night over the December 24 robbery and the murder of Elvis Chijaka.
Police are also holding a third suspect, Perseverence Chihota, a civilian.
Police said Chijaka was shot dead after interrupting a robbery following a call from his sister who was inside the house. The two men wearing balaclavas and firing an AK47 rifle also wounded Brian Chijaka, who is admitted to Sally Mugabe Central Hospital.
The robbers drove off in a white Mercedes Benz Compressor C200 after ransacking the house and stealing US$40 000.
Investigators recovered 25 spent cartridges from an AK47 rifle.
The armed robbery and murder occurred not very far from the Chadcombe house of Joseph Nemaisa, a retired police detective who shot and killed three armed robbers, among them two soldiers, earlier this month.
The armed robbers were holding Nemaisa’s family hostage when he shot the three dead through a window, while two escaped and were later arrested.
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Police investigations revealed that rogue soldiers were running armed robbery rings from army barracks.
Police recovered several guns from a ceiling at One Commando Army Barracks.
In a related case, two Harare men, who posed as CID detectives while committing armed robberies in Norton and Harare have been arrested.
Edwin Muchagwa (42) and Nelson Madhevere (23) would threaten to shoot their victims before robbing them of cash and other valuables.
This was revealed in court yesterday when they appeared before Harare magistrate Barbra Mateko.
She remanded the duo in custody to December 28.
The court was told that on September 8, Muchagwa and Madhevere raided a home in Norton brandishing pistols and handcuffs masquerading as detectives.
They threatened to shoot the victim as they demanded money.
They later stole US$3 000, Samsung cellphone, blankets, DStv decoders, a 42 inch Samsung television and vehicle tyres before fleeing in the victims Honda CRV vehicle.
The stolen property is valued at US$16 500.
They committed another robbery on November 29 in Kuwadzana Extension where they made off with US$360, various gadgets and a Nissan Sylph vehicle.
Muchagwa was arrested on December 24 and he implicated his accomplice.
— Trevor Mutsvairo/Agencies
