Five armed robbers were on Thursday gunned down following a fierce gunfight with police detectives along Glenara Avenue in Harare.
The robbers were accused of robbing two Harare businessmen — Tawanda Nyambirai and Rodney Dangarembizi — of over US$220 000, and also robbing money changers of foreign currency and a car at Makoni Shopping Centre in Chitungwiza recently.
Among those killed was a notorious suspect on police’s list of most wanted criminals, Musa Taj Abdul (alias Musa Mahommed) who had been on the run for over a decade.
The other slain robbers were identified as Taurai Chitepo, Prince Zakeo, Godfrey Mupamhanga and the other one only identified as Mahlangu.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi on Thursday confirmed that two armed robbers were killed and investigations are ongoing. He said:
They were operating from South Africa and they were working with their local informants, who supplied them with information. The gang was using a Mazda BT50 double cab and was involved in a high-speed chase with the detectives from CID Homicide. The chase started from Hatfield before they drove along Glenara Avenue and entered into a garage near Rhodesville Police Station.
As of now, I can only confirm that two of them are dead and we will release more details tomorrow (today) as investigations are still in progress.
Police recovered four firearms — a CZ, FN Browning, Star pistol and a revolver. Some 19x9mm rounds of ammunition and four 7,65mm rounds of ammunition were also recovered.
Detectives had been tracking and tightly monitoring the gang for three days before the confrontation in Rhodesville.