THREE Chinhoyi men yesterday appeared before a Bulawayo court for allegedly selling “fake” gold worth US$70 000 to a mine company in Matopo, Matabeleland South Province.
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Nyasha Marumahoko, Kudakwashe Pfavai, both 28, and Daniel Pfavai, 29, allegedly sold a two-kilogramme sack full of sand to Phinias Munda, a manager at Ndlovu Syndicate Mines in Matopo, claiming that it was gold.
The trio appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Shepherd Mjanja.
They were granted $3 000 bail each and are set to appear in court for trial on December 21.
The State said the accused lured Munda to drive from Bulawayo to Shangani and showed him a sack of sand which was in their car and convinced him that it was gold in powder form.
“They then went to Shangani where they processed the sand using mercury and the sand was processed to seven kilogrammes of amalgam,” the State alleges.
While sampling the sand, the court heard that Marumahoko and his accomplices switched the sample with real gold from one of their colleagues to make Munda believe that the samples were real.
The court heard Munda never realised this and fell into the trap before paying the US$70 000 the trio were asking for and left for his office.
Upon sampling the “gold” at his offices, Munda realised he had been duped and he reported the matter to the police.
Mamurahoko and his accomplices were arrested.
Their “gold” was sampled in front of police and it showed that it was just sand.
