BULAWAYO - The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) says it confiscated about Z$100 billion on Tuesday alone which was being smuggled back into the country as Zimbabweans stampeded to beat a 21-day deadline to hand over old currency.
RBZ governor Gideon Gono made the revelations as he addressed a meeting with local business leaders at the ongoing Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) congress in Bulawayo yesterday.
"We have seized large amounts of cash coming into the country and yesterday (Tuesday) alone we managed to seize $100 billion with the majority of the money being seized at the Beitbridge, Plumtree, Forbes, Victoria Falls and the Chirundu border posts.
THE old and new Zimbabwean money

"Most of those arrested were truck drivers who attempted to smuggle the cash back into the country," Gono said. The central bank governor on Monday slashed three zeroes on the local dollar and introduced a new family of bearer cheques in an attempt to arrest surging money supply growth and inflation.
Zimbabweans were given 21 days to hand over the old currency.
As part of the new measures, Gono announced the deployment of youths from the controversial national youth service colleges at the country's border posts to clamp down on travellers who are accused of siphoning huge amounts of cash outside the country.
Yesterday, Gono said 400 more youths will be deployed at the country's border posts to help limit the smuggling of cash.
"We will soon deploy 400 more youths to support the 200 youths that we have on the country's border posts and we have mounted roadblocks to search vehicles that would have been cleared at the border posts," Gono said.
Zimbabwe Vice-President Joice Mujuru is expected to address the CZI congress which ends on Friday. - ZimOnline