Gunfire exchange as Zim armed robbers stage a dramatic getaway

POLICE yesterday cornered three armed Zimbabwean robbers who sucked five motorists into an accident as they attempted to stage a dramatic getaway after snatching K104,000 from a legal officer of AKM Practitioners in Lusaka. The incident that started around 11:00 hours at Southern Sun Hotel, ended on the junction of Bwinjimfumu and Parirenyetwa road following an exchange of gunfire between the robbers and police. The armed criminals initiated their move at BancABC where they followed Conrad Mwangala who was making a cash withdrawal, but the alert victim had already alerted the flying squad. “When I was in the bank, I noticed a funny face looking at me and he looked like a guy who had no business in the bank. I tried to ask one of the security guards in the bank to find out what the man had come to do. He told me that it seemed that the man had come to get a bank statement,” Mwangala said. He said after he left the bank, the C5 police arrived and started trailing the robbers who were trailing him. “The police then advised me to stop at Levy Shopping Mall so that they could apprehend the robbers.

Then I saw them [criminals] parking near the NAPSA car park and as soon as they parked, they jumped out of the vehicle and walked to my vehicle. They pointed a gun to my head in an attempt to grab the cash that was in an envelope in the car. It was at that point that police fired warning shots as they approached the scene,” said Mwangala. Lusaka Province police commissioner Charity Katanga said after hearing the warning shots, the robbers retreated to their vehicle and drove off at high speed, causing alarm to the members of the public. “The robbers also fired to clear the road which they were using, but they caused several accidents in the process and we were able to arrest two of them. One of them removed a shirt but was noticed by members of the public who apprehended him and brought him to police,” Katanga said. “All the three suspects who have been arrested are Zimbabwean nationals namely: Freedom Sibanda, 36, Ninenhle Maqhawe Ndlovu, 26, Abednikho Moyo, 34. They were lodging at Serengeti Lodge in Lusaka and the Mitsubishi Pajero registration number BAA 9977, which they were using belongs to Dokana Enterprises according to RTSA records. I also urge members of the public to inform the police once they see any suspicious activity so that their property or money can be secured.”

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