HARARE - Police have launched a manhunt for two armed robbers who pounced on a Waverley Blanket employee on her way to the bank and robbed her of over $412 000 on Monday afternoon.

Harare police spokesperson Tadious Chibanda told the Daily News yesterday that two armed robbers swooped on the 62-year-old accounting officer and demanded cash amounting to $412 798, which she intended to deposit with a local bank at Graniteside Shopping Centre.

“As police we are worried about the increase in cases of armed robberies involving huge sums of money. Our message to the businesspeople who deal with large sums of money is that they should engage reputable security companies whenever they want to transfer their cash to the bank. They should avoid carrying large sums of cash unprotected, it is risky and they should not have known banking schedules, it is very dangerous,” said Chibanda.

The police spokesperson said the Graniteside attackers were driving a foreign registered vehicle which they used to flee from the scene.

The Graniteside robbery comes hard on the heels of an attack on foreigners in Avondale where armed thieves got away with over $44 000 at the weekend.

According to Chibanda, no arrests have since been made in all the cases but a “serious manhunt” has commenced. - Xolisani Ncube