Addressing journalists at the Police General Headquarters in Harare, ZRP national spokesperson, Charity Charamba refuted previous claims that a soldier was part of the five people that died in the incident.
"Let me dispel rumours that one of the deceased people was a soldier. No soldier was killed in that incident but it was only one police officer," said Charamba
"Preliminary investigations are indicating that the cause of the incident was due to explosives.
"Therefore, we all need to very cautious. We are still carrying out investigations and we will be updating you. The forensic and bomb disposal teams are still carrying out further analysis of the situation," she added.
Charamba bemoaned that people were tempering with explosives in a bid to extract mercury, which is believed to be fetching a lot of money on the black market.
She said that so far, police have recorded three cases, including the Chitungwiza incident, of people dealing in explosives.
"In Waterfalls last week, four members of the same family tried to open a grenade and it exploded resulting in one of them losing four fingers. Three suspects have since been arrested in connection with the case and investigations are in progress," said Charamba.
"In another incident in Manicaland three weeks ago, two people were arrested in Manicaland selling motor bombs to members of the public alleging that they contain mercury.
"We as police are saying explosives are designed to explode and people should not believe they will make millions out of them. The possession of explosives is illegal and highly dangerous," she added.
Charamba urged members of the public to report cases of people possessing explosives to the police.
Post published in: News