Lee Shas Ajiba (31), of Muchenjili Village under Chief Jalasi in Malawi had pleaded not guilty to smuggling and car theft when he appeared before regional magistrate, Mr Joseph Mabeza on Friday.
Ajiba could not hold back tears of joy and he left the court in stitches when he jumped as he stood in the dock and shouted in Chewa celebrating his acquittal.
In acquitting him, Mr Mabeza noted that there was no evidence linking Ajiba to the alleged offence. The complainant, a South African, also refused to attend court as a key witness.
Allegations against Ajiba were that on 8 August last year, he teamed up with seven other Malawians and went to the complainants’ houses in Durban where they allegedly stole five vehicles.
The court heard that on 13 August, Ajiba and his alleged accomplices smuggled the stolen vehicles into Zimbabwe through undesignated entry points along the Limpopo River near Dumba village in Beitbridge.
Acting on a tip-off from local villagers, police officers were deployed along the river.
They also sealed major highways during which they arrested the Malawians following an ambush near the Limpopo River.
Three of the Malawians were arrested after their cars, a Toyota Fortuner and a Toyota Raider got stuck in the sand on the Limpopo River.
They then informed the police that there were five others on their way and another ambush was laid leading to Ajiba’s arrest and two others following the interception of their vehicles, a Nissan Navara twin cab and a Toyota Hilux Raider at a road block in Lutumba.
The other two escaped but were later arrested after police fired shots at their tyres while fleeing from another roadblock near Bubi along the Beitbridge-Masvingo road.
The recovered cars, which included two Toyota Fortuners, two Nissan Navara twin cabs and a latest model of a Toyota Hilux Raider all valued at R4 million, were stolen from Durban.
The Malawians were found in possession of fake vehicle registration documents, counterfeit temporary import permits of the stolen cars, duplicate keys and the tracking and locking systems were also tampered with.
The court heard that the eight men were using Zimbabwe as a transit point before later smuggling the stolen vehicles into Malawi through Mozambique.
Source: Chronicle
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