Trying to become mbinga with drugs ends in tears: 6 ZIMRA employees arrested just an hour after stealing boxes of bronco

BEITBRIDGE — A plan by six Zimbabwe Revenue Authority employees to turn cough syrup into quick money ended with all of them in court after 147 bottles of BronCleer were allegedly removed from a warehouse at Beitbridge Border Post and recovered from a car less than an hour later.

The six workers appeared before Beitbridge magistrate Takudzwa Gwazemba facing allegations of stealing the medicine from the ZIMRA warehouse at the freight terminal. They were each granted US$200 bail on Thursday.

The accused are Linnet Chimhete, 32, a State Warehouse Revenue Officer; Eunice Langalanga, 27; Tinotenda Maphosa, 30; Simbarashe Chekure, 42; Paul Ngirishi, 40; and Thomas Musvaire, 42.

The State alleges that the plan was carried out on 16 September at about 8am. Chimhete, who had access to the warehouse, allegedly worked with Chekure, who was in custody of the keys to an entrance used for fire extinguishers.

The pair allegedly used the fire-extinguisher pipe route to get the medicine out of the warehouse. The stolen consignment consisted of 147 bottles of 100ml BronCleer syrup belonging to ZIMRA. In Zimbabwe, BronCleer cough syrup is banned and it is popularly known as Bronco by drug and substance abusers.

Prosecutors allege that Maphosa and Ngirishi, who worked as casual employees at the freight terminal, loaded the bottles into two satchels. They then allegedly carried the satchels to Chimhete’s white Mazda Demio, registration number AGY 9184, which was parked in the staff car park.

Chimhete is accused of driving out of the border post with the medicine before meeting Langalanga and Musvaire on a road near the Roman Catholic Church in Dulibadzimu. The meeting did not last long before detectives moved in.

At about 8.45am, police received information that Chimhete was carrying unregistered medicines near the church. Detectives went to the area and found the Mazda Demio parked with Chimhete, Langalanga and Musvaire inside.

A search of the vehicle allegedly produced a white 50kg sack on the back passenger seat. Inside were the 147 bottles of BronCleer. The three were arrested at the scene, while the other three suspects were later arrested and taken to the Criminal Investigations Department in Beitbridge.

The vehicle and the recovered medicine are being held as exhibits. The arrests have placed the spotlight on security at a border warehouse where officials are trusted to control goods entering and leaving the country, while also exposing how quickly an internal operation can unravel when information reaches investigators.

The Beitbridge case comes as a series of recent arrests and court cases involving ZIMRA staff has brought customs corruption and alleged collusion with clearing agents back into focus.

In July, ZIMRA official Collins Chakamavinga was arrested with four clearing agents over alleged fraud at Forbes Border Post in Mutare. The agents were named as Michael Makonye, Batsirai Mangoma, Zondai Bechayi and Steven Masaraure.

The group allegedly used false customs declarations to bring goods into Zimbabwe through Forbes after declaring them as agricultural equipment. Investigators intercepted two trucks with Mozambican registration numbers carrying assorted goods. The trucks had allegedly been released without inspection or scanning.

One of the trucks had reportedly been flagged and sent for a second search, but it was released again without examination. The financial loss in that case was still being assessed when the suspects were taken to court.

Earlier in January, four ZIMRA revenue officers were arrested in Harare over allegations that they demanded US$6,000 from a transport operator to secure the release of an impounded bus. The officials were Jonathan Maguta, Obert Mitwira, Simon Homera and Paul Gwatirinda.

The bus company had already paid ZWG55,000 in excess duty after the vehicle was impounded during a crackdown on smuggling. The four officials allegedly demanded a further US$6,000 from a company director. An investigation followed after the demand was reported, and the officials were arrested after allegedly accepting US$1,500.

Investigators also recovered US$3,951 from a ZIMRA-branded vehicle used by the officials. The money was suspected to be part of other payments linked to the alleged extortion scheme.

In another case, two ZIMRA revenue officers were among four people arrested over an alleged duty-evasion scheme at Plumtree Border Post. Corporal Luckson Chikwara and James Dzimirwa were arrested alongside clearing agent Blessing Kodzawako and CIM Consultancy employee Innocent Moyo.

The alleged scheme involved alcohol and other duty-liable goods being declared as agricultural equipment, including centre pivots, knapsacks and bulk washing powder. The goods were allegedly cleared through false documentation and incorrect tariff descriptions.

The State alleges that some trucks carrying alcohol were not scanned and were falsely reported as carrying low-risk agricultural goods. The alleged evasion left ZIMRA facing a loss of more than US$1 million in unpaid import duty, with the amount calculated at about ZAR18.3 million.

The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission later said the Plumtree case also involved Prosper Isaka, the director of Profutunny Investments. Isaka was arrested over allegations that grocery consignments imported between March and June 2024 were falsely declared as agricultural equipment. ZACC said the alleged misrepresentation caused ZIMRA a loss of ZAR2.7 million in import duty.

At Chirundu, a ZIMRA revenue officer was arrested in July with two clearing agents over an alleged scheme involving 140 bales of clothes weighing about 30 tonnes. The officer, Emmanuel Munyaradzi Charimari, was stationed at the Chirundu One Stop Border Post.

Charimari allegedly allowed a truck to enter Zimbabwe without the required clearance checks. Investigators said he failed to receive and verify the documents, did not check the consignment on the ASYCUDA system and failed to record the vehicle in the prescribed registers.

The clothes were allegedly disguised as 50 drums of honey weighing 22,000 kilogrammes and were being transported towards South Africa. The two clearing agents, Basil Tawanda Gayihayi and Takudzwa Hamilton Nyikadzino, were arrested with Charimari and granted US$200 bail each. Another alleged accomplice, Ishmael Gezani, remained wanted.

Against that background, the Beitbridge BronCleer case has a different alleged method but follows the same basic route: goods under official control, access by insiders and an attempt to move the consignment beyond the reach of customs systems.

For the six workers, the alleged venture ended before the medicine could be sold. The BronCleer was recovered from the Mazda Demio, the vehicle was seized as an exhibit and all six employees were brought before the court. Their alleged effort to turn a warehouse consignment into fast cash ended at a roadside near a church, less than an hour after the bottles were taken from the freight terminal.

The six were represented by Muchihwande Sithole of Sithole Law Chambers, while Mercy Nhathi prosecuted.