Hwedza Police arrested two Police impersonators who camped at Wedza Mountain and extorted from miners claiming it was protection fee.
Nomatter Nhambirwa (23) and Beloved Gangayi (24), all of Budiriro in Harare, who were clad in police uniform before misrepresenting themselves as officers from Chikurubi Police Support Unit, were arrested after a mining syndicate alerted police in Wedza.
Mashonaland East provincial police spokesperson Inspector Tendai Mwanza confirmed the arrest.
It is reported that on March 23, the two went to Wedza Mountain, where they told a gold mining syndicate that they had been sent by their superiors to monitor them, hence they needed some money as protection fee.
The suspects, who were clad in police uniforms, demanded that each person pays US$50 and that they had pitched their tent in the mountain under the Operation Chikorokoza Chapera.
The illegal miners then negotiated for a downward payment and they agreed that each pays US$30.
The two failed to provide proof that they were police officers. Upon arrest, police recovered the uniforms and the money extorted from the syndicate.
Newsday
