Three suspects linked to a gang that got away with How Mine’s 11,9 kilograms of gold worth US$ 450 000 and four guns were yesterday brought to court by detectives under heavy police guards.
The detectives were seeking their further detention pending investigations.
Antony Moyo (39), Wilson Mutandwa (24) and Earnest Mutandwa (30) appeared at Western Commonage Magistrates’ Court before Bulawayo regional magistrate Mrs Sibongile Msipa-Marondedze.
Police were granted their application to further detain the suspects, and the trio were taken back to Bulawayo Central Police for further investigations.
Earnest, who was nabbed while trying to flee the country through Beitbridge Border Post, was in leg-irons.
The suspects will today appear in court for initial remand.
Factors leading to their arrest are that on Tuesday, the three men, together with 10 others who are still at large, pounced on three private security company cash-in-transit (CIT) vehicles which were carrying gold from How Mine.
The suspects were travelling in three cars; a Toyota Hilux GD6, a Nissan Hardbody single-cab and a Nissan March.
The suspects ambushed and blocked the convoy, before disarming the security guards and loading the gold into their vehicles.
The CIT vehicles were carrying gold worth US$450 000, which was destined for Fidelity Printers.
The arrest of the suspects comes after the current increase in armed robberies nationwide.
Three weeks ago, armed robbers pounced on CBZ Bank’s Fife Street branch in Bulawayo and got away with US$70 000. Four days later, business came to a standstill in the Bulawayo city centre when police cordoned off streets leading to the Fidelity Building where armed robbers sneaked out with US$6 270 as well as R5 000 from one of the offices in the 12-storey building.
