Drama as police officers steal from man arrested for stealing US$158,000

On Wednesday, two police officers were brought before a Harare magistrate to face charges of criminal abuse of office for allegedly stealing from a suspect.

Addmore Musiza (34) and Tafara Machokoto (41) were remanded in custody by Stanford Mambanje. According to the State’s case, on March 3rd of this year, the two officers were assigned to investigate a theft case at National Foods, where they interviewed suspect Edward Davai Mudowaye, who had been arrested for stealing US$158,000.

After Mudowaye revealed that he had given the money to Susan Jiri for safekeeping, the duo recovered the stolen loot from Jiri at Block 7 836 Matapi Flats in Mbare. However, instead of returning the money to the recovered property, they divided the money among themselves and falsely claimed in court that they had recovered nothing from Mudowaye.

After CID Homicide detectives received information about the incident, the two officers were arrested, and US$56,000 was found buried in a maize field about 400 meters from Musiza’s house, and US$22,000 was recovered from Machokoto’s aunt in Aspindale Park, Harare.

The State also claims that there are witnesses who can testify against the two, and another US$3,000 was recovered from Jiri.