The ManicaPost
Senior Reporter
DARING shoplifters last Saturday sped-off in a getaway car from OK Mart in downtown Mutare following a foiled in-store theft scam in which they tried to loot groceries using forged receipts.
One of the suspects was subsequently arrested by alert security guards who nabbed him before he could leave the shop.
Deputy Manicaland provincial police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Luxon Chananda, confirmed the case.
He said Tendai Chipfuvamiti (28) of House Number 208, Jerenyenze, Chitungwiza was arrested at the shop entrance.
“The arrested suspect was nabbed by security guards manning the premises. Information at hand showed that the suspect was in possession of a forged receipted with an inflated purchase value of $931,97.
“He had loaded groceries in numerous trolleys that were on the inflated receipt. Guards at the entrance become suspicious of the receipt and they picked that it was fake. He was then arrested.
“During his arrest he professed ignorance saying he had been sent by people who were in a vehicle outside the shop. The other suspects quickly sped-off after realising that their accomplice had been nabbed,” he said.
When The Manica Post visited OK Mart on Monday guards at the shop said the other suspects sped-off at high speed following the arrest of Chipfuvamiti.
“We could not identify the vehicle because we did not expect such a thing,” said one of the guards who requested anonymity citing protocol.
The vehicle was captured by CCTV footage at the entrance, but it is hard to identify it because of the poor picture quality.
Most retailers have fallen prey to this kind of fraud.
The criminals go into a shop and buy items at the till point for small figures. They do not go to the security point to have their receipts checked against the goods they would have bought.
After a while, they will find their way out of the shop with their till slip which they go and edit, inflating figures and quantities of items purchased. After the alterations they go back to the shop, load goods according to the new figures on the receipt and heard straight to the security check point.
