RUTENDO CHIRUME
MASVINGO- Zimbabwe Republic Police recovered 13 cattle which were stolen from a Chiredzi villager after an alert village anti theft committee stopped two suspects from transporting the herd to Mwenezi.
The cattle belong to Johani Mutsengi of Section 15 Hippo Valley .
The recovery of the cattle led to the arrest of two suspects, Befrank Chirele (33) and Peacemaker Njenjekwa (26) for cattle rustling.
In a statement, the police applauded the Chilonga community for working together in fighting crime and encouraged other communities to form Committees to eradicate stock theft.
“As ZRP in Masvingo Province we wish to applaud the Chilonga Community for working together in the fight against crime. We encourage communities to form Village Anti-Stock Theft Committees so that cases of theft of stock can be eradicated,” said Masvingo Province ZRP spokesperson, Inspector Kudakwashe Dhewa in a press release.
Dhewa said on March 13 around 10am, Mutsengi (36), from Chief Chilonga, Chiredzi released his cattle along Hippo Valley to graze and left them unattended.
At around 6pm Mutsengi went to look for his cattle but failed to locate them and went on to tell Wellington Zvidzai (36), from Vhelemu Village, Chief Chilonga in Chiredzi that he was missing his herd of cattle.
He said Zvidzai then saw a parked truck near his homestead and became suspicious since the truck had bars on its loading box, a sign that it is used for transporting cattle.
The alert Zvidzai texted Mutsengi and he teamed up with other villagers and informed Chiredzi ZRP and the team went to the scene to investigate.
On arrival they saw the truck driver Amaziya Chimhundi (27) who divulged that he was hired to transport a herd of 13 cattle from Section 15 Hippo Valley, Chiredzi to Bongo in Mwenezi.
After a while the two accused who had hired the truck arrived and were subsequently arrested.
