A family from Borrowdale, Harare, was robbed of a Mercedes Benz, gun and cash by robbers just before midnight.ZRP spokesperson for Harare Province, Inspector Luckmore Chakanza, confirmed the robbery incident.
He said Paul Themba Munashe (50) and his family were subjected to emotional abuse by five robbers soon after arriving at their Brookview house from a church function. Said Insp Chakanza:
The complainant arrived home from a church function with his wife and their two minor children at around 11.30 PM driving a silver Mercedes Benz E280 registration number AEW 3882.As they were entering the house, they were confronted by five men armed with unidentified pistols wearing face masks.
They forced the complainant and his family into the house and demanded cash from him.The complainant took out an envelope from his pockets containing US$1 000 and handed it to them.
They demanded his firearm and also took a Dell laptop from the bedroom and tied the couple with shoelaces.They drove away in his vehicle with a 5kg gas tank, gas heater and marriage certificate book.
Armed robberies have been on the increase in Zimbabwe in recent years as a lot of people now prefer storing value in US dollars often stocked away from formal banking institutions for fear of losing them.According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, Zimbabwe recorded 1 120 armed robberies in 2021, compared with 931 in the previous year.
In 2022, in a bid to reduce robberies and rampant gun crime in Zimbabwe, President Emmerson Mnangagwa extended a gun amnesty that allowed Zimbabweans illegally in possession of firearms to surrender them to the police with no questions asked.
Source PindulaNews
