A South African-registered truck carrying a consignment of 960 boxes of Pacific cigarettes worth US$ 96 000 was hijacked in Beitbridge town in Zimbabwe by two armed robbers.

The Zimbabwean police station commander at Beitbridge, Chief Superintendent Nicholas Mawere, said the incident occurred on Friday two weeks ago at around 14:00. The truck was coming from Harare in Zimbabwe and bound for Johannesburg.

Mawere said the suspects intercepted the truck at a local truck inn under the guise of being traffic police officers. They were clad in attire, which resembled a police uniform. "The two gun-toting men introduced themselves as police officers, after which they ordered the driver to follow them to a nearby service station, where he was to meet other police officers," Mawere said.

However, on arrival at the service station, the two suspects then ordered the driver to park his truck before the three boarded a taxi to a local hotel on the pretext that they were to meet their bosses for statement recording.

Along the way, the driver got suspicious, which prompted him to ask for the men’s identification documents.

They refused to give him the documents, however, and in the process they dumped him at the hotel before they disappeared.

Mawere said the suspects then returned to where the truck was parked. They took it and drove off to an unknown destination. "The complainant then went back to the service station and found the truck not there. He then reported the matter to us," he said.

Mawere said the truck was later found abandoned near Beitbridge Border Post with only 100 boxes of cigarettes left in the container. However, police investigations led to the recovery of 549 boxes from some people who had allegedly bought the cigarettes from the suspects.

Chief Supt Mawere said they have since arrested two suspects. "We have since arrested two people whom we suspect could be linked to this incident. They were actually identified by some people who had purchased some of the cigarettes; however, we are still continuing with our investigation," he said.

Two cell-phones were also stolen from the truck.

The incident comes barely two weeks after a similar incident, which saw a South African motorist and three Malawi nationals being robbed at gunpoint by three men near Chicago Village along the Beitbridge-Masvingo highway, about 23km outside Beitbridge.