By Rex Mphisa
TWO Chinese businessmen on trial in Beitbridge for allegedly smuggling 27 tons of Silica Quartz have been granted bail with strict conditions among them reporting every Friday to Harare Police.
Can Wu (43) of 8 Kipling Road, Greendale, Harare and Yuan Chang (52) of 15 Drew Road, Chisipite, Harare, were also asked each to deposit 500 USD with the Clerk of Court , Beitbridge.
The two are to reside at their given addresses in Harare until the matter is finalised.
They are both expected each to report at Criminal InvestigationsDepartment’s Minerals Flora and Fauna Unit (MFFU), Harare once every Friday anytime between 6am and 6pm.
They were ordered to surrender their passports to the Clerk of Court , Beitbridge and remanded to March 5 this year.
Can Wu and Yuan Chang succesfully applied for bail saying they were good candidates of bail because of their worthwhile investments in Zimbabwe.
The two are also denying the smuggling charge saying they contracted a clearing company to process the export of their product.
In their submissions the two said their business interests are incentive enough for them to stand trial.
“Both applicants have substantial business interests in Zimbabwe. They have heavily invested in mining and other equipment. Fleeing is not an option,” their lawyer Jabulani Mzinyathi of Garikayi and Company said in the succesful bid.
He cited cases where precedence was set and said his clients fully cooperated with police making no attempts to flee.
To buttress their application Mzinyathi said Section 50(1)(d) gives the State the onus to place before the court compelling reasons why an applicant should be denied bail.
That position, he said, was amplified in the case of Kachigamba and Another v The State HH 358/15.
Allegations against the two are that on January 31, 2026, the accused persons together with Tarisai Matsveru, whose further particulars are not known, and is still at large, connived to smuggle 27 tonnes of Silica/Quartz ore out of the Country via Beitbridge Border Post.
Can Wu and Yuan Chang allegedly hired a Faw Truck Registration number LY4ZYZ GP towing a trailer registration number MN 53 DC GP driven by Aaron Siyabonga Dlamini to their Rockseed mine, Kotwa, Mutoko.
On February 3, 2026, the driver arrived at Beitbridge Border Post but allegedly failed to produce the export documents in respect of the consignment.
The truck was seized by ZIMRA and investigations led to the arrest of the Can Wu and Yuan Chang February 16, 2026.
Magistrate Takudzwa Gwazemba made the bail ruling on Thursday.
Tawanda Chigavazira prosecuted.