BY NIZBERT MOYO
A BULAWAYO syndicate of thieves, who broke into people’s cars, was arrested after one of them gave away information about his location to detectives through Facebook.
Fayton Zata (27) of Mabuthweni and Thabo Mthombeni (29) from Mpopoma went on a car breaking spree at the Ascot shopping complex last Saturday before they were arrested on Monday.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube said the two were using a scissors to break into cars.
“On April 24 at 11pm, the two were spotted at Ascot shopping centre, Bulawayo, by alert security guards tampering with some motor vehicles, which were parked in the parking bays,” Ncube said.
“The security guards observed that the accused persons were committing theft from a motor vehicle and were using a scissors to open the car door as well as smashing windows.”
He said the security guards tried to apprehend the suspects but they escaped, leaving behind their motor vehicle, a red Honda Fit, registration number ACO 9550 at the scene.
Ncube said the abandoned motor vehicle was searched and a national identity card, a driver’s licence belonging to Zata, a pair of scissors and a set of number plates AES 4028 were recovered.
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He said investigations showed that the number plates that were fitted on the abandoned Honda Fit (ACO 9550) belonged to a Mercedes benz ML 270.
The number plates were stolen on April 20 from a Benz vehicle parked at the Cold Storage Commission premises in Belmont.
Ncube said police searched for Zata’s profile on Facebook using the recovered identity documents and managed to communicate with him.
He eventually disclosed his address, leading to his arrest.
He said Zata admitted that he committed the offence and implicated Mthombeni together with three others identified as Bhekani, Geribee and Farai, whom he said were still at large.
