Vehicle smugglers granted bail

Local

TWO men from Bulawayo have been arrested for allegedly smuggling a Honda Fit through an illegal crossing point in the Nxele area of Plumtree, Matabeleland South province.

The duo was granted ZWL$100 000 each by Plumtree magistrate Joshua Nembaware on Wednesday last week.

Panashe Mafirovanda Zhou (32) and Andrew Chongono (38) both from Bulawayo were not asked to plead when they appeared in court. The matter was remanded to Friday this week.

Prosecutor Selestine Madziwa told the court that on November 3 this year, police details on motorised patrol along the Bulawayo-Plumtree Road received information that the two had smuggled a Botswana-registered vehicle into Zimbabwe.

The vehicle was brought to Zimbabwe through an illegal crossing point in Nxele area, Plumtree, before the two affixed Zimbabwean number plates on the vehicle.

Madziwa said, acting on the tip-off, the patrol team mounted a roadblock at the 45km peg along Plumtree- Bulawayo Road and  intercepted the vehicle which was being driven by Zhou while Chingono was a passenger.

The duo allegedly failed to produce documents for the motor vehicle, leading to the arrests.

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