Today, fourteen suspected money changers were detained.
They are part of a group of 65 alleged illegal foreign exchange dealers who were arrested last week in Harare in a crackdown on illegal foreign exchange traders.
The government says the operation is aimed at protecting Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) from being destroyed by speculators.
The 14 defendants appeared yesterday before Harare Magistrate Dennis Mangosi on charges of violating the Exchange Control Act.
They were remanded in custody until April 30 after Mangosi granted prosecutor Thomas Chanakira’s request to summon the officers who arrested them.
The co-accused will appear in court today to submit a bail application.
According to the state, the defendants were asking for US dollars from passers-by and people who intended to make purchases at a fast food restaurant in the capital.
They allegedly failed to explain what they were doing at the entrance to the store, and subsequent searches resulted in US dollars being recovered from them.
The police also confiscated their mobile phones as they were discovered to have made several transactions through mobile money transfer in both ZiG and US Dollars.
Suspected forex traders were also found in possession of POS machines and ATM cards. Newsday
