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Crime Reporter

Police yesterday said they were still working out how much money was stolen by six armed robbers who attacked two security guards delivering Zupco’s weekend cash collections at CBZ Eighth Avenue Branch in Bulawayo.

They are working with Zupco officials as part of the probe.

Almost all the money came from weekend fare collections, which are mostly in cash.

The attack occurred on Monday around 8am in full view of people oblivious of the drama unfolding in the service lane along Eighth Avenue between Jason Moyo and Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo streets.

The gang first hijacked a Mercedes Benz in Selbourne Park around 7am and used it to commit the robbery.

The driver of the hijacked Mercedes Benz was hurt in the process and is recovering in hospital.

After the robbery at the bank, the gang members drove the armoured vehicle to Woodlands suburb where they dumped it before hijacking another car, this time a Nissan Hardbody, which they used as a getaway car before dumping it.

No arrests have been made and police have since launched a manhunt for the six robbers.

National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi yesterday said police will soon release the figures of the amount stolen as investigations on the case continued.

On Monday, a Fawcett cash-in-transit team was delivering cash from Zupco, basically fares collected over the weekend, and arrived at the service lane behind the CBZ branch with about nine trunks containing the money.

As they were taking in one of the trunks into the bank, a Mercedes Benz that had been hijacked earlier on parked behind them.

About six suspects who were armed, attacked the Fawcett driver, took away a firearm that was on the dashboard and then turned on the other guard who was guarding the other trunks, and again attacked him before driving the armoured vehicle off with the cash.

The robbers later dumped three empty trunks while driving towards Woodlands Shopping Centre.

The robbers travelled to Kezi and went to a gold buyer’s house and presented themselves as people who wanted to deal in gold.

They changed their story and said they were members of the security services and were allowed in.

They produced pistols and force-marched the complainant and her friend into the house before ransacking the house.

They took her hand bag which had US$4 000.