1.   A police detective confessed Tuesday the arrest of three independent journalists earlier this year was a government ploy to silence them.

2.   Brown Mpinganjira, leader of the National Democratic Alliance, said the arrest was a government ploy to frustrate the opposition.

3.   Tsvangirai, who heads the Movement for Democratic Change, has strongly denied the charges, calling them a government ploy to discredit him.

4.   Tsvangirai, who heads the Movement for Democratic Change, has strongly denied the treason charges, calling them a government ploy to discredit him.

5.   Tsvangirai has denied the accusation, dismissing the charges as a government ploy devised to weaken the opposition.

6.   Tsvangirai has strongly denied the charges, calling them a government ploy to discredit him.

7.   He alleged in a statement that the reports were a government ploy to find an excuse to disrupt anti-APEC protest actions his group is planning.

8.   Critics have dismissed the decree as a government ploy to halt corruption investigations already under way.

9.   Lawyers for the detainees and government critics have previously claimed that the alleged terror plot was a government ploy.