Zimbabwe’s Most Wanted Criminal Emerges as Prime Suspect in Ecobank Bulawayo US$4.4 Million Heist
As Zimbabwe reels from the country’s largest cash heist in history, which saw six armed robbers make off with over US$4 million in broad daylight on a busy Bulawayo street, police have zeroed in on a prime suspect.
The dramatic robbery took place around 3:30 PM on Thursday when six men wielding AK47s surrounded a Safeguard cash-in-transit van that had just collected metal boxes full of money from Ecobank at the NRZ Building on the corner of Fife Street and 9th Avenue. The robbers subdued the security guards with swift precision.
Shoppers in the area recorded videos and snapped photos as the masked men, wearing face coverings and bucket hats, calmly loaded the boxes of cash into the open cargo bed of a white Ford Ranger single cab. They then sped off along Fife Street toward 10th Avenue, leaving witnesses stunned.
In the aftermath of the heist, police spokesman Commissioner Paul Nyathi suggested that the robbery could have been an inside job or that critical information was leaked to the criminals. Law enforcement swiftly began questioning staff from both the bank and Safeguard security services, continuing late into Thursday night.
Another source informed ZimLive that Elijah Vumbunu, one of Zimbabwe’s most wanted criminals, has emerged as a key suspect.
