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Conrad Mupesa 

Mashonaland West Bureau

TWO police officers stationed at Chinhoyi Central’s traffic department were on Thursday arrested by a crack team from Police General Headquarters for allegedly taking bribes from motorists.

They have appeared in court and have been granted bail.

Chinhoyi Provincial Magistrate Mr Langton Ndokera yesterday granted Macdonald Tapesa (32) and Desire Mangombe (30) from Chinhoyi bail. 

They are charged for contravening section 164 (1) (a) of the Criminal Law Act.

The two were trapped by the police internal team after a tip-off from an aggrieved manager of Wolfspack Transport Services, Mr Tafadzwa Bvunzawabaya, who alleged he was being forced to pay US$60 as bribe money to the two from January this year with a request for another US$60 bribe each week.

Bvunzawabaya eventually reported the case at PGHQ on Thursday, and a team of officers that included Chief Inspectors Tomwe, Mudyamarime, Maringire, Muonda and Inspector Manwere accompanied him to Chinhoyi in his commuter omnibus.

The team clad in plain clothes had been granted a trap certificate by PGHQ to snare the two.

Bvunzawabaya met the two and was ordered to follow them to Chinhoyi Central police camp. 

There, in the office, Bvunzawabaya handed Mangombe two US$20 bills and two US$10 bills. The serial numbers had been recorded and the bills photocopied before being carried by Bvunzawabaya.

At the handover, a signal was given to the police team and they closed in and recovered the trap money with the two Chinhoyi police officers arrested and spending a night in police cells.

They will be back in court on October 5 for routine remand.