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Crime Reporter

A 32-year-old woman suspected to be a member of gang of housebreakers operating in Bulawayo, was arrested on Tuesday night for breaking the curfew and being in possession housebreaking implements, stolen electrical appliances and clothes.

Prisca Ndlovu, was in the company of her two suspected accomplices who disappeared into the darkness after they were intercepted at a police roadblock near the intersection of Plumtree and Masiyepambili roads.

The three were driving a blue Honda Fit (ADS 2232) when they were stopped by police and asked why they were violating the Covid-19 curfew.

The three jumped out of the vehicle and fled in different directions, but police gave chase and arrested Ndlovu.

Police searched the car and recovered three plasma television sets, decoders, solar panels, spanners, batteries, screwdrivers, bolt-cutters, meat, remote controls, clothes and shoes.

Ndlovu was handed over to the Criminal Investigations Department for further investigations.

The next day, a complainant whose house had been broken the previous night identified some of the recovered property as his.

National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said investigations were still in progress to establish whether or not Ndlovu had other pending cases in court.

Since 2013, police have been finding women in crime syndicates with the women robbers often posing as genuine passengers while waiting to pounce on unsuspecting commuters.

In one of the cases, four robbers who went on a robbery and rape spree were jailed for 52 years, while their female accomplice, Faina Siniri, was jailed 10 years for robbery.

After a police raid in 2018, police arrested six suspected armed robbers including a woman believed to have been part of an 11-member gang that got away with US$50 000 and over $46 000 in separate incidents.

In 2014, a woman and two men who robbed unsuspecting travellers they offered transport while wearing army uniforms, were jailed eight years after their conviction.

The woman, Nyarai Mutumwa (23), together with her two male accomplices, committed a spate of robberies along the highway while masquerading as genuine soldiers. She was jailed for an effective two years and eight months.

Meanwhile, a Harare man lost US$560 to armed robbers at the intersection of Oliver Tambo Avenue and Sixth Street, one block south of Herbert Chitepo Avenue, on Tuesday at about 3.15pm, just a few minutes after receiving the cash from a money transfer agent.

The victim was grabbed by two unidentified men and dragged into their getaway car and threatened with a pistol.

Police in Harare are also investigating a case of armed robbery in which a 33-year-old Chitungwiza woman was attacked and robbed of US$5 000 and R15 000 by five armed robbers in the town.