Scores of villagers under Chief Nekatambe in Hwange were arrested after they looted foodstuffs from a truck that had been involved in an accident en route to Victoria Falls.
The truck was coming from Harare and loaded with various foodstuffs which included maize meal, rice, salt, biscuits and snacks.
Two police officers were deployed to the accident scene but were overwhelmed by the “hungry” villagers.
Police reinforcements who sent later conducted door-door searches in nearby villages, leading to the arrest of over 50 suspects.
A police report about the incident seen by NewZimbabwe.com reads in part:
A road accident occurred on May 8 at around 2 am, when the driver of a truck loaded with bags of maize-meal, rice, snacks, salt and biscuits lost control upon reaching the 320km peg and veered off the road. The truck then fell and landed on its side.
A report was made to the police and two traffic officers were deployed to attend. When they arrived, some villagers were already at the scene carrying some groceries to their homes.
They failed to stop the hungry villagers as the crowd grew bigger resulting in the whole load being looted.