The three men who faked a robbery of US$2,7 million from ZB Bank while it was being delivered to branches in 2021, have been jailed for an effective eight years each by Harare regional magistrate Mr Clever Tsikwa.
The court also confiscated all the recovered proceeds of the robbery including US$130 300 and a fleet of vehicles such as Honda Fit, Toyota Hiace Baby Quantum, Dunno truck, Toyota Parcel and Lexus.
Shadreck Njowa, the former internal security manager for cash-in-transit at ZB Bank, who was the brains behind the robbery, Tendai Zuze and Neverson Mwamuka, were convicted of robbery charges after a full trial.
Mr Tsikwa initially sentenced each of them to 10 years in jail, before suspending two years on condition of good behaviour.
They will each serve an effective eight years behind bars.
In passing sentence, Mr Tsikwa said the three had to be given a custodial sentence given the severity of the charge.
“The offence was committed in aggravating circumstances. A sentence of around 10 years will be suitable considering that they were in remand for about 17 months,” he said.
Prosecuting, Mr Loveit Muringwa told the court that on January 6, 2021 at around 11.30am, the three security staffers Nomatter Jonga (43), Matthew Simango (66) and Fanuel Musakwa (34), were tasked to carry seven boxes containing US$2 775 000.
The cash was to be ferried to ZB branches in Chinhoyi, Kadoma, Kwekwe, Gweru, Bulawayo, Gwanda and Zvishavane.
They were travelling in a Toyota Hilux single cab with a canopy, secured with a tracker and emergency panic button.
The three connived with six others. Jonga, Simango and Musakwa picked up three unknown suspects at the Westgate roundabout in Harare and drove to Inkomo Tollgate where they collected a box containing $43 090, which was supposed to be deposited at the bank, and then picked up three more men at Inkomo Barracks turn-off as they drove towards Chinhoyi.
Upon reaching the 60km peg, Jonga stopped the vehicle and a fake robbery was staged.
An Isuzu twin-cab immediately arrived at the scene with people who were armed with pistols.
Jonga, Simango and Musakwa surrendered their pistol and rifle, before driving their Toyota Hilux for about 900 metres where the gang offloaded the cash boxes onto the Isuzu, which then drove off.
Total cash US$693 026 and $1 410, motor vehicles worth US$133 400, three houses valued at US$115 000 were recovered, bringing the total value recovered to US$941 426.
Herald
