Canadile Miners, a South African firm, is one of the companies controversially awarded rights by the government to mine diamonds in Chiadzwa. Komilan Packirisamy (37) and Viyandrakumar (42) were arrested last week at a police checkpoint at Hot Springs along the Mutare-Masvingo highway. They were caught in possession of 57 pieces of diamonds worth US$28,000. Police discovered that the pieces of diamonds had not been recorded with the Canadile Miners register as required by the company.
The directors were arrested following a tip-off by some employees of the company. Police searched them and found the diamonds hidden in a plastic bag. The directors appeared in court on Thursday, and were released after posting bail of US$2,700 each. They were also ordered to surrender their travelling documents and to report to Mutare Central police station once a week. They were remanded to February 23.
Canadile Miners and Mbada Mining (Pvt) were licensed by the Zimbabwean government to mine the gems amid uproar from African Consolidated Resources, a British company which claims to have rights over the diamonds at Chiadzwa. The British company has taken the matter to the courts. The arrest of the two has heightened fears that the gems from Chiadzwa are not properly secured and can easily be smuggled.
Post published in: News