A THIEVING group of Lusaka’s Matero Compound including woman have gone viral on social media after being arrested by Police in a failed robbery on the Copperbelt.
The gang staged a money heist in the city of Ndola which was foiled by the gateaway driver’s inability to steer a basic Toyota Allion with a mere 1.4cc engine on a wide two lane asphalt road.
In a brazen coordinated attack ripped straight from the middle page of a best-selling crime thriller, the robbers driving a grey Toyota Allion shadowed a black Toyota Hilux which was being driven by 34-year old Francis Kunda who had just withdrawn K132,048 from FNB Bank in the Central Business District.
Noticing the robbers in close pursuit, Kunda panicked and thought his feet were faster than the Toyota Hilux.
Kunda jumped out of his vehicle and ran to hide among peasant farmers with hope that they might rescue him but even they ran away from him as his terrified screaming face scared them too.
With Kunda out the vehicle, one of the criminals touting a small Calibre pistol came out of their vehicle and like picking eggs in a chicken run got the bag containing the money, joined his lot and together they sped off.
Robbers safely out of sight, Kunda gathered some courage and mobilised an army of the willing to give chase to the robbers who were now heading towards Lusaka with the bounty safely in their custody.
However, upon looking in their rearview mirror, the criminals realised that they had someone on their tail and attempted to cruise faster than the skill of the driver.
With one false move from the driver, the car came to a screeching halt under the trailer of heavy duty truck.
Shell shocked, one criminal who surely was a sports prefect in his High School days bolted from the scene never to be seen again.
The remaining three were ordered at gunpoint by police who had now arrived to lay on the ground and complied.
However, a chubby lady with calm looks of an SDA Dorcas Mother remained sitted in the car like she was waiting for holy communion.
For her indiscretion, she was slapped out of the wrecked car and also made to pile her flobby mass on the dust.
Police spokesperson Esther Mwaata Katongo has confirmed that those arrested for aggravated robbery whose minimum sentence is 15 years in jail are Charles Lunga, Norman Nguni, Owen Msimanga and off course Ethel Lyambai, all Matero and Chunga Compounds in Lusaka.
The bag containing the money was also safely recovered.
The incident is likely to mark a rare record in Zambia’s criminal justice system as for the first time in a long time, none of the criminals received a bullet in their thieving bodies from the gun-happy C5 Elite Anti-Robbery Squad.
©Kalemba March 30, 2021
