One of the most notable arrests was when a Detective from the section intercepted about 15 kilogrammes of pure gold which was destined to South Africa at a toll gate along Harare – Masvingo Highway after tracking a vehicle from a house in Belvedere. The Gold buttons worthy 1 million dollars were concealed on the rubber floor of the Mercedes Benz Vito on the panels behind the seats. With the help of police officers at the tollgate, he arrested Tomothy Makarimayi (49) and Fungai Mashava (28) who denied knowledge of the gold and they led the detective to another suspect Dennis Kwendamawira (60) who they allege he had given them the vehicle to go to South Africa. The three suspects were arrested and further implicated another man – Yaya Materiya (30) Director of Norstein Trading Pvt Ltd. The Mercedes Benz Vito used to carry the gold belonged to this company.
The suspects then offered the detective a bribe of 60 000 and he declined the bribe money and arrested them for bribery instead. Yaya who was now accompanied by his brother Rashid requested to meet the Detective’s superior and offered him and the detective a bribe of $193 230 as additional bribe money and they arrested them.
“The detective’s dexterity, intuitiveness, loyalty and dedication to duty vindicated the ZRP which has been associated with corrupt activities by bearing in mind the organisational stance on zero tolerance to corruption. The Detective defied the devil’s machinations by refusing a whooping amount of bribe and affected an arrest your worship. I will not shy to raise the police flag high….”
The recovery of about 15 kg of gold was a major achievement by the ZRP Minerals and Border Control Unit in their quest to minimize the rate at which precious minerals were being siphoned out of the country..