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The most affected were fast food outlets such as Mr Chips, Chicken Inn, and supermarkets such as TM Hyper and some Spar stores, among others.

Vendors have not been spared as well.

On Tuesday, the director of Plant Quarantine Services in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Dr Cames Mguni, announced the launch of the blitz on smuggled potatoes, saying it was meant to protect local farmers.

The inspectorate team from head office in Harare descended on Bulawayo on Wednesday and raided several shops. At the beginning of this week it was in Gweru.
In an interview yesterday, the ministry’s chief plant health quality inspector, Mr Nyikadzino Mangombe, warned that all illegally imported potatoes would be confiscated and destroyed without compensation and those found possessing them risk being arrested.-Chronicle