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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
THE trial of a trucker, who was recently arrested at Beitbridge border post for attempting to smuggle 19,6 tonnes of suspected stolen telephone and electricity cables out of Zimbabwe, has been postponed to next month.

Justice Chirimuta of Harare was arrested on 18 July while driving to South Africa. Beitbridge resident magistrate Mr Toindepi Zhou remanded Chirimuta out of custody to September 8 on $20 000 bail.

Prosecutor Mr Manyonga Kuvarega told the court that the truck was intercepted after going through mobile cargo scanning.

He said Chirimuta arrived at Beitbridge driving a South African registered truck and falsely declared to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) that he was carrying seven tonnes of copper granules.

Unsuspecting Zimra officials then processed the customs documents but Chirimuta ran out of luck when he was intercepted by security authorities acting on a tip-off.

The vehicle was taken for physical examination where it was discovered that it was carrying 19,6 tonnes of scrap copper, mostly telephone and electricity cables, believed to have been stolen from TelOne and Zesa Holdings.

Chirimuta was arrested and the value of the copper will be ascertained when both TelOne and Zesa complete verification and assessment of the cables.