A 28-year-old South African man suffered a temporary setback when his car had its 40 liters of fuel drained by some unknown suspects, resulting in his getting stranded while he was relieving himself in a bushy area along the Beitbridge-Masvingo road in Zimbabwe.

The victim, Mr Leroy Tlabau of Polokwane, told Mirror that the incident occurred on Saturday, 2 February, at around 12:00, about 20 km out of Beitbridge town. "I had just stopped at a lay-bye point where I intended to relieve myself and when I came back, I discovered that the tank was empty," he said. Tlabau said the suspects also stole extra fuel amounting to 20 liters which was kept at the back of his vehicle, a Toyota Hilux bakkie.

He was coming from Masvingo and heading towards Beitbridge enroute to Polokwane. "I was stranded for about 30 minutes until a motorist offered to assist me and gave me about 5 liters of petrol to enable me to travel to Beitbridge," Tlabau said.

The matter was reported to the local police station. Local police spokesperson Insp Dzirutwe confirmed the incident and said they had since a launched a manhunt for the suspects. "We are appealing to community members to assist us with information which could subsequently lead to the arrest of the suspects. We also would like to warn motorists against stopping in isolated areas as they also risk being mugged by highway armed robbers operating in such spots," said the police spokesperson.

Of late, there has been an increase in the number of muggings along the Beitbridge-Masvingo road, in which armed robbery syndicates targeting motorists have turned lay-bye points into crime hot spots.