AN on-duty soldier from the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA)’s elite commando regiment was one of the alleged armed robbers involved in the fatal shootout at former top police detective Joseph Nemaisa’s Chadcombe house Monday night, NewZimbabwe.com has established.
The commando regiment is one of the special forces units in the ZNA, trusted with difficult critical operations. The role of commandos and other special units is to conduct special operations across an operating continuum, typically expeditionary in nature.
Multiple military and official sources said the 21-year-old officer, identified as Tariro Gora who comes from Sanyati, was supposed to be at his workstation at the One Commando Barracks along Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Road, commonly known as Airport Road in Harare, at the time of the ill-fated robbery.
Two other robbers who escaped Nemaisa’s deadly marksmanship are also believed to be serving ZNA members.
He is one of the intruders Nemaisa shot dead and in a video circulating on the social media, the cop-turned lawyer – renowned for taking down many an armed robber during his police days – is seen indicating to investigators that Gora was the one holding an AK47 assault rifle.
It emerged from off-the-record briefings by sources Monday that the gun belongs to the ZNA and Gora was using it in his official duties on the fateful night.
ZNA bosses, sources further said, are currently trying to establish how he skipped duty and made his way out of the heavily fortified military camp with the powerful service gun which at law cannot be licensed to an individual.
“He was a member of the ZNA serving in the commando regiment. He was actually supposed to be on duty that night and bosses are wondering how he made his way out with that gun. The AK47 is not your ordinary gun which can be owned by anyone. It’s a preserve for the army,” a source said.
“It is also believed that the two others who survived the shooting and escaped are soldiers and they are being hunted down,” the source said.
Gora was shot dead on the scene by Nemaisa, together with his two accomplices, yet to be identified, Monday night in a movie-style incident while holding the ex-cop’s family hostage at his Chadcombe home.
The other soldier who was gunned down at the crime scene has not yet been named.
newzimbabwe
