Armed robbers storm Chinese factory, rob 18 workers on night shift
Chinese bosses fail to give police statement because of language barrier
By Staff Reporter
Six armed men stormed a Chinese tent manufacturer in Harare Friday and ordered 18 workers on night duty to lie on their stomachs before making off with all their cell phones, which they loaded into a sack.
Dura Tent Private Limited Company manufactures tents and wooden furniture, and was being manned by guards from ZIMCANE Security Company.
According to a police memo, at around 10pm on Friday, Knowledge Taruwedzera and his colleagues saw six men jump over the company precast wall and headed straight to the gate where they had been deployed.
They were armed with “two unidentified pistols and wearing black face masks only revealing their eyes”.
They tied two guards’ hands with plastic cables and ordered them to lie down on their stomaches with four of the suspects left guarding them at the gate.
Taruwedzera “was force marched into the factory by two accused persons who were armed with pistols”.
“The two accused persons forcibly entered into the factory where there were eighteen (18) workers,” police said.
“The accused persons ordered everyone in the factory to lie down on their stomach and all the workers complied.
“One of the accused persons collected cell phones from all workers and put them into a blue sack.
“The accused persons ransacked into the Chinese Office by forcing open the screen door and gained entry. They were three Chinese who were seated in the office.”
They went on to search all the drawers looking for money and other valuables but they found nothing.
One of the suspects seized a cloud storage of the CCTV.
“The six accused persons disappeared into the darkness through an unknown exit with eighteen (18) different cell phones which they stole from workers,” police said.
“Two security guards who were tied with plastic cables managed to untie themselves. They informed the police using one of the worker’s cell phone which was on the charger.”
Police are yet to make any arrests of the suspects.
The total value stolen “is yet to be established since none of the three Chinese can speak English and their translator was not around”.
