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Innocent Thebe, whose age was not given, but resides at Number 4586 Magwegwe North, was arrested after an alert airtime vendor at the corner of Fort Street and 14th Avenue, Ms Dorica Ngwenya suspected that he was an imposter and raised alarm.

Members of the public, most of whom are street vendors, apprehended Thebe, as he tried to flee from the scene and handed him to the police.

Thebe pleaded not guilty to impersonating a police officer when he appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Mr Abednico Ndebele and was remanded in custody to 14 February.

The court ordered that a medical doctor examine him after he claimed that police assaulted him when he went to surrender the work identity card belonging to Inspector Chivandire, which he said he had picked up.

The State led by Mr Malvern Nzombe alleges that on Monday night, Thebe hatched a plan to commit crimes and went to Gijima Night Club in the city centre where he posed as a police officer and demanded to search the premises. In the process, Thebe allegedly came across an identity card belonging to Inspector Chivandire of Bulawayo Central Police Station Traffic Section. It is alleged that he took the identity card and started using it posing as a police officer and asking to see vendors’ licences.