Drama after gun totting men are seen in village

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By GETRUDE GUMEDE

Published: November 9, 2009

ZIMBABWE – INYATHI – There was drama in Inyathi area last week after some villagers spotted two men armed with what looked like AK-rifles resulting in a team of police officers being deployed in the bush to apprehend the suspects.

After tracking the men for four days, the officers managed to catch the suspects only to discover that they were not armed with the AK-rifles as initially believed, but pellet guns.

Matabeleland North police spokeswoman, Sergeant Siphiwe Makonese could not be reached for comment but a senior officer in the province confirmed the incident.

A police officer from Inyathi revealed that two men were spotted by villagers at the 55 kilometre and 45 kilometre pegs along the Nkayi-Bulawayo Road, armed with “AK rifles” on Monday last week.

“A villager who was a passenger in a vehicle traveling to Bulawayo spotted a scruffy, dark man (who appeared) in his late 30s wearing a jean pair of trousers and a khaki shirt, who was armed with what he thought was an AK rifle. He disappeared into the bush when the vehicle stopped,” he said.

“Ten kilometers later, another man was spotted carrying a similar rifle and he again disappeared when the vehicle stopped. He went in the same direction as the first suspect. Although the vehicle was heading to Bulawayo, one of the passengers decided to make a report at Inyathi Police Station.”

The police officer said preliminary investigations had revealed that some armed men had indeed been seen in the area.

“Our superiors told us to fully investigate the matter to establish what was happening. There were fears that the suspects could be a serious security threat since they were armed. We also thought that they could have been poachers because we have many farms with wildlife in the area, while they were also fears that they wanted to rob people in the area,” he said.

“An armed team was dispatched to track them in the bush and they managed to corner them after four days. They were however armed with pellet guns only but we did not see them with any birds.”

The suspects were fined and released.-The Zimbabwe Telegraph