19 Aug 2020

Francistown Central Police Station Commander, Superintendent Lebalang Maniki has appealed to the community to help them with information that could lead to the arrest of remaining suspects in the recent robbery of Choppies Meriting in Francistown.

During the heist, the gun wielding robbers made away with cash amounting to 190 000.

In an interview, Superintendent Maniki said the some suspects were still at large and therefore appealed to the public to come forth with any information that could lead to the arrest of the culprits.

So far four suspects that included a Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) agent, Derick Masukula, have been arrested alongside for the robbery. 

Masukula and the other three suspects; Mogomotsi Thupane, Thato Moatshe and Ronnie Sanana have already appeared before the Francistown Magistrate Court for remand and have been quarantined for possible COVID-19 exposure as greater Gaborone was under lockdown at the time of their arrest in the capital city.

The quartet will appear again for another mention on September 3 where the prosecution will update the court on the progress of their investigations.

Accoring to preliminary police investigations, the quartet allegedly forcefully entered the Choppies Meriting store at around 830 pm just some minutes after the store closed for the day hiding their faces using face masks and threatened staff members with something similar to a gun.

Meanwhile Superintendent Maniki has urged shop owners to be vigilant especially towards closing times because that was usually the time when criminals pounce on businesses to rob.

Superintendent Maniki said although the police have cluster committees that engage with the business community in Francistown in order to curb incidents of robbery, it was evident there were some gaps that needed to be closed. BOPA