Image credit: succo (Pixabay)
Two Mutare Central District senior police officers were arrested for allegedly working as ‘couriers’ to transport stolen diamonds from the Marange diamond fields, in Zimbabwe, according to the state media.
The Manica Post reports that illegal diamond syndicates had enlisted the services of ‘rogue’ cops to transport the stones through roadblocks to avoid tight security checkpoints at the diamond mining area.Joseph Mlambo, an Assistant Inspector; and Felix Machaka, an Inspector who is also Officer-In-Charge of the Minerals, Fauna, and Flora Unit, recently appeared before a Mutare magistrate court on charges of possessing precious stones, resisting arrest, and trying to obstruct the course of justice.
The two were granted bail.
At least 2359 illegal diamond miners were arrested in 2019 in Manicaland Province where ZCDC has its operations.
Diamonds are expected to add at least $1 billion to the $12 billion that Zimbabwe is expecting the mining industry to contribute to the country’s gross domestic product by 2023.
Zimbabwe is also planning to more than triple its diamond output to 11 million carats by 2023 from 3.2 million carats in 2018.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
