Police have killed two suspects and arrested three others linked to the murder of a police officer and multiple armed robberies across Bulawayo.
Sipho Ncube, 24, and Dumisani Ndlovu, 32, died in a shootout with detectives in the Saucetown suburb as they attempted to flee when police cornered their gang, Police Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed Wednesday.
Three accomplices — Mandlenkosi Albert Munangati, 26, Clifford Desmond Nare, 33, and Thabo Dube, 24 — were taken into custody following a public tip-off.
The suspects are connected to the killing of Sergeant Abel Masava, 43, who was shot dead in Sizinda just after midnight last Friday while responding to a domestic violence call.
“The detectives tracked the vehicle leading to the arrest of Mandlenkosi Albert Munangati,” Nyathi said. “The suspect implicated the other suspects leading to their arrest and recovery of five firearms.”
According to police, Ncube and Ndlovu “tried to escape resulting in a shoot out with detectives along Harrow Street” and subsequently “died upon admission at United Bulawayo Hospitals.”
Investigators recovered multiple weapons including a National Browning pistol, Blow F92 Blank pellet gun, rifle, Vizor pistol, shotgun, and sword. The firearm used in Sergeant Masava’s killing was among those seized.
The gang has been linked to 25 armed robbery cases including a December 2024 supermarket robbery in New Luveve, a February 2025 funeral parlor heist where US$3,608 and ZAR21,130 were stolen, and a March attack on a service station at Nketa drive and Rangemore Road.
Nyathi said the criminal gang specifically targeted fuel stations, liquor outlets, supermarkets, funeral parlors, and gas operators throughout their crime spree which began in April 2024.
Sergeant Masava was killed after stopping five men walking through Sizinda suburb while he waited in a police vehicle as colleagues resolved a domestic dispute inside a residence.
