Five cops in court for US$15k extortion
Story by Fungai Jachi, Courts Reporter
FIVE police officers, who allegedly teamed up to extort US$15 000 from an innocent man after threatening to arrest him on cooked-up charges of sexual harassment, have been dragged to court.
The love for money has landed the five officers in trouble if the allegations they are facing are anything to go by.
Lawson Muchongwe aged 34, Perseverance Chisango (31), Weston Muzorewa (36), Prosper Chimbunu (33) and Fredrick Moyo (34) appeared in court this Friday facing charges of criminal abuse of office.
The five, who allegedly used their power as police officers, approached the complainant claiming they were investigating a case of sexual harassment that was reported against him.
The court heard that the accused went on to demand US$15 000 from the complainant as payment for them not to pursue the investigation.
The five were arrested when they went to collect the cash from the complainant.
They were released on US$50 bail each.
Meanwhile, 27-year-old Nyadziso Chiyangwa is in trouble for allegedly hacking into a local telecommunications company’s system and transferring over 1 000 gigabytes of data worth over US$ 2 000 from the company’s clients.
It is alleged that he also illegally connected 82 people to the company’s Wi-Fi hotspot charging them US$10 each for the connection.
He was remanded out of custody to the 17th of next month on US$50 bail.
