- No vendor wares submitted to surrounding police stations as exhibits
- Looting irks senior officers who were sponsoring vendor activities
- Operation sets law enforcement agents at loggerheads as some were in unholy alliances with artisanal miners
SENIOR police officers are furious at law enforcement agents who conducted a Wednesday night raid at Jumbo Mine in Mazowe and allegedly looted confiscated vendors’ wares.
Police officers who spoke to Zim Morning Post said the senior police officers were riled at the plunder of their colleagues as the looted goods belonged to the officers in question.
Most of the vendors were merely runners, sources said.
The mine was on Tuesday night sealed off in order to rein in marauding machete-wielding gangs.
However, a section of vendors who had put up makeshift shelters in and around the mine site and were enjoying brisk business provided by artisanal miners, vowed not to leave the site.
Zim Morning Post understands that an operation was ordered to rid the mine of the vendors but the operation went awry, impeccable sources said.
Witnesses said some of the vendors who evaded arrest fled the scene, leaving thousands of dollars’ worth of property and goods ranging from generators, petrol, compressors, mining equipment, and tuck-shops filled with groceries.
“Alarm was raised when the wares where not submitted to the police station,” said a police officer who requested anonymity.
“This riled senior police officers, many who had bought the wares in question and had runners who were selling these commodities at the mine. The place had become a mini-town of sorts; tuck shops everywhere, apartments for sex trade, barber-shops, you name it. Everything was looted clean and nothing was submitted,” the police officer added.
Operation sets law enforcement agents at loggerheads as some were in unholy alliances with artisanal miners
Ironically, the police officers who conducted the operation are also at loggerheads with other officers who were sponsoring the activities of artisanal miners at the gold-rich mine.
“The operation which had become a money spinning scheme all but puts many police officers, Zanu PF leaders and government officials out of business,” a police officer said.
Illegal artisanal miners are said to have been paying rent to police officers to continue their operations while machete gangs have been mere runners of politicians, government officials and those with positions of influence.
Police say at least 907 illegal miners at Shamva, Jumbo Mine and Mazowe River were arrested on the first day of the operation against illegal mining activities, while 18 vehicles were impounded on Tuesday in Mashonaland Central.