KASANE - Kazungula police on Tuesday morning shot and wounded a 29-year-old Zimbabwean man who is suspected to have earlier robbed a tuck shop in the area.

Assistant superintendent Chakalisa Nkoni said the incident occurred near the Botswana/Zimbabwe border.

The shooting of the suspect follows a spate of housebreakings targeting both Kasane and Kazungula that prompted appeals from both the residents and the community leaders to demand the tightening of security measures in the area.

Our patrol team found two men walking towards an ungazzettedBotswana/ Zimbabwe border line carrying a variety of goods.

When the police approached the suspects, they abandoned their loot and tried to vanish into the nearby bush, as a result the police opened fire and one of the suspects was shot on the left thigh, he said.

The suspect was rushed to the Kasane Primary Hospital where he was referred to Nyangagwe Hospital with severe injuries. The other suspect is however still at large, but police are hopeful that with the help of the Zimbabwean police the suspect will be apprehended.

We have contacted our counterparts in Zimbabwe to help us with the arrest of the suspect who escaped, he said.

Mr Nkoni said some residents have already indentified the stolen goods as belonging to them, indicating that some are still to be identified.

Mr Nkoni said the arrest of the suspect is a major breakthrough in their efforts to curb the level of crime in the area.

We have experienced several housebreakings and no suspect was arrested there as criminals often escape to Zimbabwe.

There is a path that criminals normally use to enter Zimbabwe after robbing people in Botswana. This is also the same path that the suspects were using, he said. BOPA