by Tutu Akinlabi

A police station in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe was recently the scene of pandemonium after a mysterious creature scared off officers on duty.

The creature, described as a goblin, was said to have been deposited at the Tshabalala station by a family who said it belonged to their tenant.

The goblin was said to have jumped out of a bottle covered in blood and smelling very badly.

According to reports:

The goblin was owned a tenant and the family brought the dreadful creature to the cops. It was said to be stashed in a suitcase when they brought it to the charge office.

A policeman who had knocked off spoke to our news crew on condition of anonymity citing protocol.

“We heard some screaming from the charge office and most officers who had knocked off rushed to see what was happening. At first everyone gathered around the suitcase, wanting to see what was inside,” said a cop.

It is reported that the owner of the house who brought the tokoloshi is a traditional healer. Upon opening the suitcase, the blood-clotted goblin jumped out of a bottle and police officers fled their own ‘work place’, it is reported.

“No one told anyone it was time to run. One minute, the charge office was full, the next, it was empty. I think some people went out through the windows because we could not all have fitted through the door. Fat cops and slim cops all ran for their lives screaming,” said the police source.

Explaining how it looked like, some policemen said it was like a dog-headed snake while others said it had pangolin-like scales. But the general agreement that that the creature was terribly smelling.

Reports say the sangoma then took his tenant’s goblin and burnt it, leaving members of the public wondering why he had just not burnt it in the first place without causing commotion at the police station.

Bulawayo deputy police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Bhekimpilo Ndlovu confirmed the incident and said investigations are still in progress.