Special security forces on an operation against smuggling and illegal cross-border travel Saturday fled a roadblock just outside Beitbridge after a raid by officials believed to be investigating corruption.
The officers from a joint operation involving the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA), Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS), Support Unit and other uniformed forces ran in all directions when officers from the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) arrived.
Police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said they were still investigating the circumstances. He added:
We are trying to establish what exactly transpired.
It is understood that ZACC reacted after several stories of the rampant corruption at the security roadblocks and deployed undercover investigators, who pounced on the roadblock. A witness told The Standard:
Police and soldiers almost at once dropped all they were doing and fled in all directions after learning they had been raided.
The 415-member team of officers drawn from all the security forces was deployed in January last year in an operation against border crimes.
More than 20 officers have already been brought before the courts allegedly for robbery and corruption while two policemen were jailed for theft of goods they were supposed to deliver to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority.
It is alleged the security forces are demanding bribes and have opened their own border posts around Beitbridge.
More: The Standard