The CIO abduction exercise was code named Operation Nyamunyamu (Operation Grab). A former CIO operative who deserted the secret service organisation in late 2008 and now runs a private business testified how the shadowy unit tortured Zanu (PF) political opponents.Now he walks with a limp and with the aid of crutches after being tortured following his desertion.The former operative, who cannot be named, said they would be supplied with names of influential “opposition” members whom they would hunt down and take to various torture camps dotted around the country.He said he operated in the Seke area in Mashonaland East, the same province as the Goromonzi torture base. “We used unmarked cars, mainly at night, to abduct our targets, blindfold them and take them to our bases where we used various methods of torture. For men, the most prominent one was removing all their clothes and clipping their manhood with car battery jumpers. We would stop when their eyes started turning deep red and rolling backwards; that was a signal they were about to die, but we also killed some of them,” he said.“That experience still haunts me. One day, I decided enough was enough, and turned to diamond dealing. Together with my colleagues, we would go to Chiadzwa (diamonld fields in Manicaland), produce our CIO IDs and get the diamonds which we sold outside the country,” he said. He was caught while dealing in Chiadzwa and tortured, during which his right leg was severely fractured, but managed to run away.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 06:49:15 +0000
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