Dirty Chinese duo hire hitmen in foiled gold heist
Harare- TWO Chinese men hired two hitmen from Sierra Leone, whom they said were specialists when it came to firearms, to help them execute an elaborate plot to steal 4 kgs of gold from a car which was being used to smuggle gold to Zambia via the Chirundu Border Post.
Gohga Kan and Wu Ke Wen, the two Chinese men, hired Aruna Saidu and Foday Kamara, who are from Sierra Leonean, for the gold heist.
The four were arrested and appeared before Harare regional magistrate Marewanazvo Gofa yesterday.
The court heard that on February 27, Kan approached Ozias Matsikete informing him that he was planning to rob a car that was travelling from Harare to Zambia.
He asked him to look for two people to participate in the commission of the offence.
Kan told Matsikete that he had two pistols and two trained men on standby to carry out the offence and he only needed two others for back-up.
Matsikete immediately alerted Detectives from CID Homicide Harare of the planned robbery.
It is alleged that on March 1, Kan asked Matsikete to arrange a meeting in Karoi, with the two participants he had secured, so that they could assess a conducive place to rob the car.
Kan allegedly indicated that he preferred Karoi because it was nearer to Zambia, where he wanted to take the gold after the robbery.
The detectives, who posed as participants, drove to Karoi together with Matsikete, in a Mercedes Benz. When they arrived in Karoi, Kan ordered the trio to drive for about 15 to 20 kilometers towards Chirundu.
The team of detectives, and Matsikete, complied with the orders and met Kan, who was driving a white Toyota Prado, registration number AFM 8165.
Kan was with Wen and three other Chinese nationals.
It is alleged that during the meeting, Kan told the detectives of his plans to rob a car which he claimed was smuggling gold to Zambia.
He went and showed the detectives and Matsekete the place he had identified, where the robbery was going to be committed.
Kan told them that he preferred the place because there were a lot of potholes making it easier to commit the robbery as the targeted car would drop speed.
The court heard that on Saturday, Kan and Matsikete again met the detectives along The Chase in Mount Pleasant.
Kan was in the company of Wen and he told them that the robbery was going to be carried out the next day and the vehicle would leave Harare at 2am enroute to Zambia.
Kan allegedly then introduced Saidu and Kamara as the other participants in the robbery .
He claimed that the Sierra Leone duo was specially trained and that he would give them two pistols.
Kan gave Matsikete the car registration numbers of the cars he claimed would be smuggling the gold.
Acting on the information, the detectives set up a special team from CID Homicide Harare as well as police officers from the Support Unit Police Special Tactics Troop and devised a plan to stop the robbery.
Matsikete was going to drive the Sierra Leoneans from Harare to the place of the robbery.
The team waylaid the vehicles carrying the gold at Nyabira tollgate and they managed to arrest Joseph Phiri and Liu Wiegiang who were in the Toyota Prado BLD 76ZM, which was carrying the gold.
They also arrested Kan and Wen who were following behind while driving a white Honda Fit.
The police recovered the gold, which weighed 4kgs, and was hidden under a radio.
The police arrested Phiri and Wiegiang for illegal gold possession.
Saidu and Kamara who were in Matsikete’s vehicle and the police recovered a 9mm Canik 55 pistol, serial number T6472-12-AE00426, with a magazine of 14 rounds, and a 9mm FN Herstal pistol, serial number B07695, with a magazine of 11 rounds.
The quartet was remanded in custody and was advised to approach the High Court for bail considerations.
Lancelot Mutsokoti appeared for the State.
Source: H-Metro
