Terror as bodaboda theft rises

Dar es Salaam. Motorbike-related crimes, ranging from robbery to murder, have risen to such alarming levels in Dar es Salaam and elsewhere that people are now demanding urgent action.

Police Occurrence Books are reportedly dominated by crimes involving motorbikes, which have put to the test the capacity of the officers to protect people and property. Although police say they are winning the war against such crimes, the general outlook is that the law enforcers are overwhelmed by the rise in crime, so much so that they can no longer contain the situation.

Armed bodaboda gangs are reported to have robbed bars and outlets for money transactions and also killed people carrying large amounts of money. And they get away with it.

In places like Oysterbay, Masaki and Mikocheni, the criminals target foreigners walking in the streets and grab handbags, mobile phones and other valuables. The police are reportedly overwhelmed and do not have enough resources to marshall an effective response.

But Dar es Salaam police say their efforts to end the terror are paying off and the situation is now under control, according to Special Police Zone boss Suleiman Kova. “We have not recorded any incident in the past week,” he told The Citizen on Sunday. “As we are talking, police have killed a bandit we believe to have been behind the attacks. We are recording huge success in ending bodaboda crime.”

The fatal shooting two months ago of Jeremia and Nestory Tarimo as they tried to stop motorcycle gangsters, who were robbing their relative in Mwananyamala,is just a tip of the iceberg. A gang stormed a bar where they were meeting, grabbed a bag from the in-law and made away with Sh2 million. They made the woman lie under the table. Her brother and father-in-law were shot dead as they resisted.

Remidy Tarimo, a relative of the victims, told The Citizen on Sunday: “Our family is deeply frustrated by the murder. We no longer live in peace as these bodaboda robberies have become the order of the day.”

A few days later, a gang riding a bodaboda murdered an army officer, 40-year-old Sergeant Yohana Gweso, and robbed him of Sh40million at Ukonga Banana.

Terror in bars and shops

There are also widespread motorcycle gang attacks in bars and shops, making life difficult for businesspeople. Last month, four men riding on two bodaboda robbed a chain of shops a few metres from the residence of former President Ali Hassani Mwinyi and made away with a huge amount of money.

The gang stormed into the shop at around 2pm and robbed an unsuspecting customer who had arrived in his car. They fired three shots and ordered other customers to lie down and robbed them of their belongings, one after another. “They then entered our shops and collected money and airtime vouchers at gunpoint,” recalls Mr Salum Issa, who claimed to have lost a huge amount of money during the robbery.

Some neighbours hiding behind their fences tried to stone the robbers but the two shots the robbers fired as they left were enough to silence them. Police arrived at the scene 20 minutes later. Last month, this paper reported the case of armed robbers who closed a road for about 25 minutes as they frisked patrons at a Dar es Salaam bar.

Brandishing guns, six armed robbers raided Naffu Bar along Kajenge Street in Kijitonyama and robbed waiters, scores of football fans and other people watching a live European Championship match on television.

The suspects arrived at the bar at about 10:30pm on two motorcycles, shooting randomly in the air. According to witnesses, they fired about nine rounds of ammunition.

Bar owner Alex Shayo claimed to have lost over Sh10 million. He lamented that insecurity in the city had become a nightmare as similar cases emerged at a rate never seen before. “It is now a trend for gun-toting men to brazenly attack businesses at will,” he said. “I have heard of attacks similar to what happened here reported elsewhere in Dar es Salaam.”

The Citizen on Sunday reporter who witnessed the incident said the thugs were arrogant enough to stop cars until they had accomplished their mission. They shot three more bullets in the air as they disappeared.

Situation in Masaki, Oysterbay and Mikocheni

Residents of Masaki, Oysterbay and Mikocheni say handbag snatching and other forms of bodaboda-related crime have become the order of the day. Criminals have reportedly besieged the area and are robbing people day and night with impunity. The criminals target foreigners going out in the evening and at night.“They robbed me of my handbag two weeks ago,” says Anitha Mweringo, a resident of Masaki Peninsular. “They dragged me about four metres to remove the bag from my shoulders. Dar es Salaam is getting more dangerous with motorbike crime.”

Hardly two days pass without such robberies in Oysterbay. Statistics on crimes involving bodaboda hitmen in Dar es Salaam are hard to come by. Last year, Kinondoni police arrested about 44 men and two women who were allegedly members of a motorbike crime network.