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Walter Nyamukondiwa Chinhoyi Bureau
Fraudsters who were moving around with fake United States dollars in Kariba which they used to dupe unsuspecting shop owners by buying small items for change were arrested while stuck at an elephant “roadblock”.

Jonas Chituku (34), Cosmas Chizema (24), Allan Besu (34) and Tonderai Machonese (30) all of Harare were caught while waiting for a herd of elephants to clear the road.

They had earlier gone to Kapenta Sales in Mahombekombe where they bought two kilogrammes of kapenta using a fake $100 note. Storekeeper Ms Esnart Bunza gave them $90 change before realising that the note was fake.

She tried to inform the four men who were driving in an unregistered Mercedes Benz E320 vehicle and they sped off.

Ms Bunza alerted detectives at CID Kariba who followed up on the suspects.

However, the four got lost as they wanted to speed off towards Harare but took the Kariba Heights road.

They later realised that they had been lost and on their way back they came across a herd of elephants which remained in the road. The others, however, got out of the road leaving one which remained in the road for several more minutes until detectives arrived and arrested them.

Detectives recovered US$500 in fake notes.

Investigations established that the four men had earlier used the same method to buy four kilogrammes of kapenta from Ms Phyllis Gwauraya at Zambezi Proteins in Mahombekombe.

They have since appeared before the Kariba Magistrates Court facing two counts of fraud and another one of possessing articles for criminal use.

The four were sentenced to 18 months imprisonment with six months being suspended while for the other count they were sentenced to six months.