By MOFFAT CHAZINGWA –
A SUSPECTED criminal linked to a series of motor vehicle thefts that involved taxi drivers getting robbed after being given drinks laced with an intoxicating drug has been apprehended in Kitwe.
The suspect was apprehended when he allegedly hired a driver of a Toyota Noah who he then attempted to give a drink believed to have been laced with the intoxicating drug.

. Katanga

Copperbelt Police chief Charity Katanga confirmed the arrest of the unidentified suspect, as investigations continued to apprehend his accomplices.
Ms Katanga said the suspect was arrested on Friday and had so far been identified by 10 victims of motor vehicle thefts from various districts, including Kitwe, Kalulushi, Chingola and Chililbombwe.
She said the suspect was arrested after he hired a driver of the Noah from a taxi rank in Kitwe, on the pretext of wanting to pick up his girlfriend, in nearby Kalulushi.
Ms Katanga said the suspect first requested the driver to pass through Pick N Pay at the CopperHill Shopping Mall in order to buy food for them to eat.
“He went inside to buy food and when he returned, he pretended that he had forgotten to buy water and so asked the driver to go and buy the stuff,” Ms Katanga said.
Ms Katanga said the mission, however, flopped after the suspect was identified by some people and they quickly alerted the driver of the Noah who in turn devised a plan to have the suspect arrested.
“The driver told the suspect that he could not go to Kalulushi because his licence had expired and that if they had to go, he needed to ask a traffic police officer colleague to assist with a permit for him to use,” Ms Katanga said.
He then told the suspect that they should pass through Kitwe Central Police station for him to collect the police permit.
Ms Katanga said upon getting to the police station, the driver locked all the doors in the vehicle and quickly alerted police who then apprehended the suspect.
Meanwhile, police in Kitwe have apprehended a Zimbabwean believed to have been behind the theft of money from people after trailing them while on their way to or from the bank.
The man was apprehended on Saturday after he snatched a bunch of wrapped soap he mistook for money from a man he was trailing on the way to a bank in town.
The suspect was with two others when they blocked the victim’s car, before smashing the window and grabbing the wrapped soap, thinking it was money, but police quickly intercepted and apprehended the Zimbabwean, while two others managed to escaped.