A Zimbabwean online publication, ZimLive, reports that a former Zanu PF parliamentary candidate and youth leader has been arrested with several suspects for allegedly stealing 400 kilograms of crushed gold ore in Shurugwi, Midlands.
Forty-two year-old Khumbulani Mpofu, who was allocated a Zanu PF top-range vehicle in the 2018 general elections as a parliamentary candidate in Bulawayo, is suspected to be part of a marauding gang that robbed Ansh Red Mine on December 22.
ZimLive reports that police have seized a Ford Ranger with a Zanu PF VVIP sticker on the windscreen, which the former party Youth League secretary for Bulawayo province was driving.
The other suspects were identified as Misheck Deta, 32, Promise Dube, 22, Phakamani Moyo,30, Canicious Sibanda, 28, Mlamuli Khumalo, 31, and Munetsi Takunda, 29.
According to ZimLive, the suspects were armed with an unidentified pistol, an axe, an electric shocker and another unidentified riffle when they committed the crime. They also stole US$250 and four cell phones from their victims, whom they left tied with a rope.
They were arrested on Christmas eve at a tollgate while using a white Ford Ranger. They initially resisted arrest, resulting in some of the suspects sustaining gunshot wounds. One of them succumbed to his injuries.