An unlicensed Kwekwe arms dealer, Jimmy Munodeyi, was yesterday slapped with a three-year jail term for illegal possession of 66 live rounds of ammunition.
Munodeyi (35) was sentenced on his own plea of guilty to contravening the Firearms Act when he appeared before magistrate Letwin Rwodzi.
The court heard on January 4, members of the Zimbabwe National Army’s intelligence unit visited Munodeyi’s home in Newtown following a tip-off and posed as prospective buyers looking for bullets.
Munodeyi produced 66 live rounds of 7,62x39mm bullets and offered to sell them at $3 each. He was immediately arrested and handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department for further investigations.
Police then raided Munodeyi’s home and recovered 1 093 spent cartridges under his bed.
In mitigation, Munodeyi told the court he had picked up the bullets from Katanga range along Mvuma Road where he had gone to gather mushrooms and believed them to be scrap metal. But the court dismissed the claims.
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“The court wonders how accused went on to peg each round at $3 each if he genuinely believed the bullets to be scrap,” Rwodzi said.
“What also aggravates his cause is that he was actually selling these dangerous devices and had it not been for the alert army officers, there was nothing hindering him from selling them to possible armed robbers.”
The court, however, suspended half of the sentence on condition of good behaviour leaving him to serve an effective one-year jail term. Precious Rukara prosecuted.