A CENTRAL Intelligence Organisation (CIO) agent was shot and wounded after a high speed chase with detectives – the bloody end to a deal gone sour over a fictitious substance known as red mercury, purportedly used in the creation of nuclear bombs.
CIO operative Mudenge Matyasha Mugwira, 32, and accomplices Merina Goto, 42, and Blessing Chitiyo appeared before a Bulawayo magistrate on Tuesday, charged with kidnapping, robbery and extortion.
A third suspect, only identified as Gushungo, is sought by the police.
Bulawayo prosecutor Malvern Nzombe told of a bizarre tale of greed, abuse of power, kidnapping and torture.
The charges against the men stem from an alleged April 28 raid on the 8th Avenue property of an Asian businessman, Faisal Gazali, in which they took him captive -- Mugwira punching him twice in the face to force compliance.
The men were accusing Gazali of swapping their red mercury with a FAKE during a transaction.
Magistrate Abednico Dube heard after kidnapping Gazali, the trio drove to 12th Avenue where they picked up the missing suspect, Gushungo.
Gazali, the prosecutor told the court, was then ordered to direct the men to his house. He was threatened with death if he misled them.
With Mugwira at the wheel of a Nissan Hardbody twin cab, the men arrived at Gazali’s home where they were met by a maid and the businessman’s uncle at the gate.
“Mugwira asked the two if they knew Gazali, and they said they knew him. Mugwira then told the two it was the last time they were seeing him alive if he did not co-operate with them and drove off,” according to the prosecutor.
The quartet, the prosecution says, then drove Gazali to a bushy area in Queen’s Park, close to the Joshua Mqabuko Airport, where he was made to lie down. The businessman was repeatedly attacked with a wheel spanner, a jack handle and booted feet.
Following the assault, the men allegedly emptied Gazali’s pockets, taking away US$70 which he had on him. They also demanded US$20,000 cash or a kilogramme of gold as “compensation” for their red mercury.
“Gazali pleaded with them to reduce it to US$10,000 and they agreed and gave him up to 7 May to pay up, with a threat that he would disappear if he failed to meet the deadline,” the prosecutor alleged.
To ram home the message, the prosecution says Mugwira – having dropped off his Chitiyo and Goto outside the City Hall – drove to Magnet House, the regional HQ for the Ministry of State Security in the President’s Office.
Mugwira, the prosecution said, showed Gazali the 7th Floor, which he said he operated from.
He told the businessman “he was in the business of making people disappear”, while warning Gazali not to tell anyone, the court heard.
Mugwira, still in the company of Gushungo, later drove Gazali to his home – apologising to his uncle and claiming it was a case of “mistaken identity”.
After being “pestered” on several occasions and receiving more threats, Gazali finally reported the matter to the police on Wednesday last week.
Detectives set up a sting operation last Friday in which they put fake Zimbabwe dollars in a bundle, with a fake and genuine US$100 note at the top and bottom.
The money was put in an envelope and at the prompting of the detectives, Gazali invited Mugwira to come down and pick up his “compensation” money.
As Gazali handed over the money to Mugwira, detectives swooped and ordered him to come out of the car with his hands raised, the court heard.
Defying police instructions, Mugwira sped off as detectives opened fire – shooting him once on the arm. But despite being hit, the CIO agent kept driving until he was involved in a head-on collision on Leopold Takawira Avenue.
The substance at the centre of the case, red mercury, is something of an urban myth. Supposedly the main ingredient for a "dirty bomb", the substance is either radioactive or toxic or neither, depending on who you speak to.
Samples obtained from arrested would-be terrorists around the world invariably consisted of nothing more than various red dyes or powders of little value.