By Patrick Chitongo
A spate of armed robberies that occured in Masvingo province particularly in Mwenezi, Zaka and Chiredzi , were planned by two armed robbers in South Africa where they were staying, Lowveld Checkpoint can exclusively reveal.
The armed robberies left many people injured and traumatized, while two were killed. Several amounts of money were stolen with another victim having lost his car to the yobs.
The ruthless robbers tortured one of their targets by burning her with plastics all over her body before she gave them money. Lowveld Checkpoint managed to trace how and where the criminal cases were engineered. According to our investigations, the criminal offences were planned in Polokwane where Amos George Mutamba (34) of Chinoda village under Chief Nhema in Zaka, met with his partner in crime nly identified as Chauke in September this year.
Chauke had just arrived from Zimbabwe where he had left his wife , who is also an accomplice, after stealing money in Bulawayo, Mwenezi , Chiredzi and Zaka.
After the two met in Polokwane, Chauke convinced Mutamba that he had list of all the people from whom they can rob and get money. They both travellled from Polokwane to Beitbridge boarder post using public transport. From Beitbridge they travelled to Bulawayo and arrived at around 9pm. They failed to secure overnight accommodation in Bulawayo and had to sleep outside the Central Police station, at ana open space used fr selling flowers.The following morning , the two woke upat around 5am, and spent the rest of the day roaming around the town waiting to board a bus to Zaka.
They boarded the coach at 1pm and arrived in Zaka where they met Chauke’s wife in a bushy area close to the suburb. The woman supplied them with all the information and directions they needed before she left them in the bush as she returned to her place.
The two later went to scout for houses which were given to them , and later returned to the bush after successfully identifying their targets. At 12 midnight they pounced at Emily Rupanga’s homestead. Mutamba was armed with a Noringo pistol, serial number 4820088, while Chauke was armed with a bolt cutter and a wrench.
Chauke tried to force open the door but it made noise that made the occupants to wake up. The house owner came out armed with an axe and broke the glass at the entry of the house as he tried to attack the robbers. Mutamba aimlessly fired a shot into the house, forcing the occupants to flee out of the house. He fired tge second shot , and by then Chauke had gained entry into the house. Chauke demanded money from the house owner’s wife but she refused to release the money until she was burnt with plastics all over her body. She eventually released the R11000, US$1700, and two cell phones worth R400. The went back to the bush waiting to punch on another of their victims. Around 0200hrs they climbed a durawall at another house in the same area. The owner came out before Mutamba fired a shot into the air.The frightened home owner bolted out of the house and the two robbers followed him.They caught up and wrestled with him while he was fighting back with a steel bar. As he remained defiant, he was shot once on the leg and surrendered US$60. The robbers left the area and proceeded to Bulawayo where they met Chauke’s wife and shared the spoils.
Mutamba was arrested in Hippo Valley where he was hiding at his aunt’s place after killing his uncle in Zaka.He killed his uncle after blaming him that his son took his wife to South Africa. However , while he was hidding in Hippo Valley , he had time to profile all senior managers at Hippo Valley, as well as farmers had been targeted. Mutamba however said he and his accomplices who are still at large are not the ones who robbed two Chiredzi businessmen, Five Muchehiwa and Venancio Kuraone.
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