A Chinese national was arrested recently for allegedly trying to smuggle 30 tonnes of lithium out of the country.
Lu Minghui (45) of Msasa Harare was found in possession of fake documents to facilitate the transportation of the lithium from Bikita Minerals to Mozambique.
He appeared before Marondera magistrate, Esther Mabika, on Thursday last week and was remanded to 16 March on $100 000 bail.
Lu was also ordered to surrender his passport and reside at his given Msasa address.
Allegations are that on 25 February, Lu hired a haulage truck from Anter International Logistics to ferry petalite ore to Beira, Mozambique.
He allegedly gave the transporting company some soft copy documents that showed that the mineral was being ferried from Bikita Minerals.
On 28 February, upon reaching the 71-kilometre peg towards Marondera along the Harare-Mutare Highway, the truck was intercepted by detectives.
The detectives discovered that the truck was transporting petalite concentrate.
Bikita Minerals was then contacted and the company’s officials said they were unaware of the documents. Lu was then arrested.
Terrence Zenda prosecuted.
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