BY REX MPHISA
SPECIAL security forces on an operation against smuggling and illegal cross-border travel yesterday fled a roadblock just outside Beitbridge after a raid by officials believed to be investigating corruption.
The officers from a joint operation involving the Zimbabwe National Army, Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services, Support Unit and other uniformed forces ran in all directions when officers from the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) pounced.
“We are investigating the circumstances. We are trying to establish what exactly transpired,” police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said.
He, however, did not elaborate.
But it is understood that Zacc reacted after several stories of the rampant corruption at the security roadblocks and deployed undercover investigators, who pounced on the roadblock.
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“Police and soldiers almost at once dropped all they were doing and fled in all directions after learning they had been raided,” said a witness.
The government in January last year deployed a 415 strong team of officers drawn from all the security forces in an operation against border crimes.
More than 20 officers have already been arraigned before the courts allegedly for robbery and corruption.
Two policemen have been jailed for theft of goods they were meant to deliver to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority while several others are still appearing in court.
Beitbridge residents have long requested that the operation be stopped since the security forces demand bribes and had opened their own border posts around Beitbridge.