A cheeky thief tricked a security guard into surrendering her pistol and keys after pretending to be the one taking over guard duties from her.

Caleb Zhiwunkinyu appeared in court charged with theft.

The court heard that Zhiwunkinyu was formerly employed by VS Security, but relieved of his duties in April.

On June 11, he went to NSSA building and pretended that he had come to relieve Memory Mutero, who was on duty.

Since Zhiwunkinyu was known by other security guards in the area, they convinced Mutero to do a handover.

Mutero handed over her revolver, three rounds of ammunition, basement keys and car keys and went home. However, Tsungirirai Munetsi, who was on night duty discovered that Zhiwunkinyu had disappeared with three rounds of ammunition, but left the firearm on the table.

A report was made to VS Security and Munetsi was advised that Zhiwunkinyu was no longer employed by the company.