Wed 10 September, 2003 13:41 BST
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe police have arrested four men for
faking a death to get preferential treatment on the sale of fuel, state
television has reported.
An acute shortage of hard currency since 1999 in Zimbabwe has resulted in
erratic fuel supplies and the problem has worsened since a deal with Libya
collapsed last November.
The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation said on Wednesday police arrested and
fined four men after suspicious attendants at a Harare garage offering priority
to bereaved families found one of them hiding inside the coffin aboard a vehicle
seeking petrol.
The latest report follows a local newspaper story in July, which said police
arrested two mortuary workers for renting out corpses to motorists looking for a
way to jump the long queues at the pumps.