Zimbabwe police rescue 251 children used as labor and find graves in religious sect compound raid

By FARAI MUTSAKA
Associated Press

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe police say they have rescued dozens of children used as labor at a religious sect compound. Graves, including of infants whose deaths were not registered, were also found during a raid at the compound on the outskirts of the capital, Harare. Police arrested a “self-styled prophet” leading the sect and seven of his aides. Believers of the apostolic sect, who described the farm compound as their promised land, were unhappy with the police action and remonstrated with officers, demanding the return of the children. Apostolic groups that infuse traditional beliefs into a Pentecostal doctrine are popular in the deeply religious southern African country.