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Pamela Shumba Senior Reporter
DARING thieves broke into Bon Marche supermarket in Bulawayo’s Parklands suburb and seized more than $15,000. The break-in occurred in the early hours of Sunday. There was a delay in opening the retail shop on Monday morning as workers woke up to find an opening on the roof and rushed to make a report to the police. Sources told Chronicle yesterday that the thieves broke into one of the supermarket’s offices through the roof and carved open the ceiling before taking away the cash at about 3AM.
“The thieves gained access into the supermarket through the roof. They went straight to the cash office where money is kept and took about $15,000,” said a source.

“On Monday morning, the supermarket opened about an hour late as workers and police officers were trying to figure out what really happened.”
A source said said police were investigating the matter and no arrests had been made.

When Chronicle visited the supermarket yesterday, a senior official only identified as Makonese declined to comment on the incident and referred all questions to the supermarket’s headquarters in Harare.

Comment could not be obtained as management in Harare was said to be in a meeting.
Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson Inspector Mandlenkosi Moyo said the matter had been referred to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
CID spokesperson Detective Inspector Monalisa Mangena could not comment on the incident yesterday saying she was out of office.

Bulawayo has recorded a spate of break-ins and robberies in the past few months with schools, supermarkets, churches and businesspeople losing thousands of dollars to thieves.
Statistics released by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) indicate that armed robbery and plain robbery cases are on the increase in the country.

In the first six months of this year, 355 armed robbery and 3,772 robbery cases were recorded countrywide up from 265 armed robbery and 3, 474 robbery cases reported within the same period last year.

In one of the reported armed robbery cases, a three-member gang pounced on Agribank Maphisa branch at the beginning of this month and stole more than $30,000 in cash at gun-point.