Two armed robbers shot dead, four injured
Story by Peter Chivhima, Courts Reporter
TWO suspected armed robbers have been killed, while four were injured in a shootout with police officers who were trying to arrest them in Harare this Tuesday.
Jabulani Ngobeni aged 45 and Godknows Machingura (44) died on Tuesday during the incident in Arcadia.
Ngobeni and Machingura were part of an armed six-men gang who are believed to have travelled from South Africa to commit a robbery in Kwekwe.
The other members of the gang include three South African nationals – Ndiafhi Makhado, Andrew Masubelele and Emmanuel Makamo – as well as a Zimbabwean, Paul Zhou.
ZRP National spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the incident in a statement, saying detectives from CID Homicide, Harare received information that the suspects were booked at a guest house along Mauritius Road, Arcadia, Harare.
Acting on information detectives raided the guest house resulting in the suspects bolting out of the house with one Ngobeni firing shots towards the detectives and a shoot-out ensued, resulting in him being shot on the hip.
This led to the arrest of Ngobeni, Makhado, Masubelele, Zhou and Makamo with the police recovering a pistol loaded with four rounds of ammunition.
Assistant Commissioner Nyathi also confirmed that Ngobeni, unfortunately, died on admission at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, while Machingura, who was not around during the initial shootout, also died following yet another gunfire exchange after he was lured to Morgan High School, Arcadia, Harare.
It also emerged that the gang had hatched a plan to commit robbery along Birmingham Road, Kwekwe with Machingura said to be in Shamva where he was monitoring the movement of their target.
The latest incident comes after another gang of nine suspected armed robbers was shot and arrested on allegations of committing a spate of armed robbery cases in and around Harare on the 14th of this month.
