Armed robbers seize US$40,000 after midnight raid at Harare company
Suspects attacked guard and blasted safe with explosives, police say
By Auther Chimbgwa
Four armed men pounced at a company just after midnight on Saturday, attacked a guard before ransacking the roofing material and tile manufacturer’s premises and making off with over US$40,000 cash.
According to police spokesperson for Harare province, Inspector Luckmore Chakanza, the suspects, who were wearing black jackets and balaclavas, forcibly entered Class Con Company premises in Workington industries at around 1am by cutting the surrounding fence.
A Fawcett Security guard who was manning the premises was alerted by the sound of an alarm and began investigating what had triggered it.
“He was suddenly grabbed from the back by two of the accused persons,” police said.
“One of them was armed with an identified rifle and the other was armed with a bolt cutter. They ordered him to sit down and they tied his hands with cables.
“They searched him and took his panic button, company gate keys and two Itel cell phones all valued at US$57.
“One of the accused persons opened the gate and the other two accused persons entered into the premises. The accused person who was armed with a rifle was left guarding the informant whilst the other three went inside the building through a smashed window pane.”
Police said the suspects searched four company offices from the ground floor and took an inverter and the CCTV server from the company director’s office, all valued at US$500.
They proceeded into the Finance Manager’s office where they searched and took US$1,000 from a cash box.
“They further went upstairs into the cash room where they blasted the safe using unknown explosives and took approximately US$40,000 of which US$20,000 belonged to the company whilst the other US$20,000 was the finance manager’s personal cash.
“After the act, the accused persons went away and the mode of transport they used is not known,” police said.
“The security guard later managed to untie himself and alerted his superiors from Fawcett Security company and was advised to report the matter to the police.”
Police observed that the suspects tampered with the CCTV cameras during the act, with blood stains observed on the floor inside the director’s office, suggesting one of the suspects could have been cut by the broken window glasses.
The total value stolen was estimated to be US$41,500 and nothing was recovered.
