VP implicated in smuggling

bwean the syndicate involved a group of powerful, politically-connected individuals.
Nhara, who was a principal director in the office of President Robert Mugabe, died on May 28 after he was arrested, allegedly while trying to smuggle a consignment of 10,700 carats of diamonds – worth close to US$100 000 on the black market – through the Harare International Airport in cahoots with a foreigner.
While in police custody and appealing for bail, the sources say Nhara wrote to Mugabe pleading for his intervention, thus admitting to being a part of the mineral’s looting cartel comprising “some senior officials in government”. The president reportedly didn’t respond.
Investigations by this reporter have led to the discovery of a cartel comprising senior ruling party officials and linked to foreigners who purchase diamond and gold smuggled out of Zimbabwe. The company, believed to have been implicated in illegal gold dealings in police reports as reported by this paper in February this year, is involved in the gathering of minerals through the black market.
A network of senior police and state intelligence members is involved in the smuggling of minerals, which sources say was infiltrated leading to the bust up and trapping of Nhara.
“Nhara mentioned when he wrote to Mugabe that there were several senior government officials involved, although he didn’t provide names,” a source told this paper. “The vice president concerned tried frantically to help Nhara out of the mess before he died. Police investigations after the arrest of Nhara also pointed towards the vice president and other powerful government officials involved in the smuggling syndicate but that is where it ended.”
Efforts to obtain comment from the vice president were in vain. A woman who claimed to be a personal assistant in the office on Monday said the person concerned was “too busy to comment on such matters”. A senior police officer (Godwin Matanga) speaking on condition of anonymity said “the syndicate was discovered well before the arrest of Nhara, which itself was a result of information that exposed it and subsequent tracking. The (name supplied) are involved but nobody dares take any action against them, perhaps until another trap catches them red-handed”.