POLICE in Bulawayo have arrested two men from Queenspark and Thorngrove suburbs for trying to dupe people using fake United States (US) dollars.

Speaking during a ZRP Crime Watch programme aired on ZBC TV recently, Chief Inspector Divine Muzombi from Mzilikazi police station said police arrested Nkosana Mpofu and Munashe Siziba who were in possession of four fake US$50 notes.

 “The accused persons were caught in a shop when they wanted to dupe a shopkeeper using fake US$200 which was in US$50 notes. They pretended to be buying some groceries but the complainant realised that they were fake,” he said.

Chief Insp Muzombi said the complainant managed to apprehend one of the accused persons leading to the arrest of his accomplice.

He said the accused persons are also part of an armed robbery syndicate which was terrorising citizens using a Honda Fit pirate taxi.

Chief Insp Muzombi appealed to members of the public to be very observant when doing cash transactions.

“Members of the public should be vigilant and should not take the issue of fake notes for granted. They should report any crime to the police,” he said. 

Recently, police in Bulawayo arrested a syndicate of suspected fraudsters who were using muti to aid their criminal activities after they tried to defraud an illegal money changer by exchanging fake US dollar notes with RTGS dollars.

The incident occurred in Nguboyenja suburb and the suspects were allegedly found with muti/umuthi/juju which they are believed to have used to aid them in their criminal activities.

The four accused persons approached the complainant saying that they were miners and wanted to change or convert US$200 to RTGS dollars.

After the four reached an agreement with the illegal money changer, they briefly left and came back with four fake US$50 notes.

With the aid of other people, the illegal money changer managed to apprehend three accused persons and recovered RTGS$503 but one of the accused persons fled.—@tamary98