The trial of two Beitbridge men who were recently arrested by police detectives from CID Beitbridge, with the assistance of the Zimbabwe Insurance Crimes Bureau (ZICB), for allegedly facilitating the movement of goods through the Beitbridge Border Post using forged documents has been set for December 18.
The ZICB is an investigating unit operating under the Insurance Council of Zimbabwe (ICZ), which has already deployed manpower to work with security agencies to verify the authenticity of some insurance – related documents originating from Beitbridge. Hopewell Ndlovu and Phillip Ndlovu were each granted $200 bail when they appeared before the Beitbridge Provincial Court, facing charges of forgery, fraud, possession of articles to commit a crime and contravening a section of the Immigration Act.
They are being represented by Mr Julius Maphosa and Mr Muchiwande Sithole, respectively and as part of the bail conditions, they were both ordered to report twice a week at CID Beitbridge on Mondays and Thursdays between 6 am and 6 pm. In addition, Hopewell was also ordered to surrender an offer letter or agreement of sale for his stand at Lutumba growth point. The accused persons who were running an office in Beitbridge town were arrested recently after running into a ZICB-initiated trap on November 24.
Beitbridge Area prosecutor, Mr Ronald Mugwagwa, told the court that on November 23, the Insurance Council of Zimbabwe obtained information that the two men were printing and distributing fake Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) yellow insurance cards and converting the proceeds to their own use. A private investigator with the ICZ then approached the accused persons, requesting a COMESA yellow insurance card purportedly for his truck.
The investigator was then advised to pay the accused persons a sum of R500 for their truck, which would pay US$45 at the ICZ. The money was then paid to Hopewell, who advised the investigator to visit their office and collect the COMESA yellow insurance card on the following day. The ICZ investigator then reported the matter to CID Beitbridge and he was then assigned detectives to accompany him to collect the COMESA card, leading to the two men’s arrest at their office in Beitbridge town. The police detective and the private investigator found them in possession of articles for criminal use.
These include blank COMESA yellow cards; blank- fake and original birth and death certificates; several Central Vehicle Registry blank driver’s licenses and a Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) receipt book. Other items comprised several passports, four erased Zimbabwe Defensive license certificates, a South African motor registration books, including blank copies of SA registration books, a laptop, five printers, a laminating machine and a price label gun, among other things. During interviews, Hopewell and Philip allegedly confessed to detectives that they had used the illegal items acting in common purpose. The articles of crime were seized by the police.
