Lomagundi College Armed Robbers Fail To Locate "Jackpot"
Lomagundi College, located in Chinhoyi, said no school funds from fees were taken during an armed robbery that occurred at the institution on Tuesday night.
The robbers may have expected to get away with thousands of US dollars in fees and levies but the school’s authorities said the money collected from levies and fees was not kept at the premises.
In an update to parents, Lomagundi College board chairman Ntando Sibanda said all children and staff members were safe and had been accounted for.
The robbery at Lomagundi College by ten suspects, and another armed robbery incident at George Silundika High School in Bulawayo on 06 January where US$17 280.00 cash was stolen from a cash box, prompted the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) on Wednesday to implore school authorities to deposit all monies at financial institutions to curb such incidents.
An undisclosed amount of money comprising staff members’ monies, a vehicle, several laptops and guns were seized by the suspects during the Lomagundi College robbery, according to Sibanda. Read the update to parents:
HOT DEALS:
itel A70 - (128GB, 3GB RAM) $89,
itel A70 - (256GB, 4GB RAM) $99
itel P40 (128GB, 4GB), (6000mAh) $99
itel P40 (64GB, 4G), (6000mAh) $93
Cash on Delivery in Harare & Bulawayo. Tinotumira kwamuri inosvika.
WhatsApp: 0783 450 793
As I write this update, I would like to assure you all that all our children and staff members are safe and well accounted for.
At about 2030hrs last night (9 January 2024) our main gate security team was ambushed by a group of 10 masked armed robbers who disarmed them of their weapons and held them hostage by the gate guard room.
They then ambushed Mr Masombo our LC Deputy Head as he returned to campus after having driven to town earlier that evening.
They then forced Mr Masombo and 5 security guards to the LC administration block where they were tied up and made to sleep on the floor after having broken the alarm system and all the office doors.
The robbers then broke into all the administration offices, and broke all the fixed and movable safes.
While at this point, we can advise that no school funds from fees were taken as these are kept off-site, we strongly suspect that an undisclosed amount of money was taken which comprised staff members’ monies (could be monies for clubs, committees etc) kept in their respective offices.
Several laptops and other assets of value were taken and we are still to establish these once staff members have been interviewed.
The robbers then got away using Mr Masombo’s vehicle, took guns from the security team and took with them Mr Masombo’s phone and a few other phones belonging to the security team.
Our school team then managed to untie themselves and a report was then made thereafter.
CID Chinhoyi attended to the report at approximately 0200hrs this morning and investigations are currently in progress.
The administration block has been sealed off temporarily to allow the police to carry out their work.
We will be communicating contact details for parents to use in the meantime for any urgent communication with the school as our school lines will probably go unanswered.
While I acknowledge that this is a stressful update to parents, I would like to assure all that everyone is safe and accounted for and that our school programme will proceed as normal for all our children.
Please can we help each other remain calm during this difficult time. We will be making all possible efforts to beef up our security at school as much as possible.
As for now, we will allow the authorities to lead us in the investigation processes.
We have tried to give as much information as possible for now based on what we have so far.
More: Pindula News
