Two suspects killed in car jack drama

by Happy Lazaro

Two persons suspected of car jacking have been killed in what police have described as mob justice.

The incident happened on the 3^rd of September. It started to unfold when two men approached a taxi driver at Sanawari junction and hired his vehicle, at about 9.45 a.m.

One of the men identified himself as an army officer from the Monduli- based, Tanzania Military Academy (TMA) and that they were heading to the base to collect their monthly salaries.

They asked the driver, Mwanavemtula Shijo (36), a resident of Sanawari, to take them to Monduli at a charge of Tsh.25,000. The driver agreed and took them in his Toyota Mark II saloon car with number plates MSM 147.

When the vehicle reached the Monduli junction, the two men ordered the driver to pick up two more people who were waiting at the roadside, saying they were both their mates.

It was at that moment when a pistol was placed at the back of the driver’s head, followed with orders for him to take the suspects to Babati.

A few kilometres ahead, the driver was ordered to stop and the suspects tied both his legs and arms, muffled his mouth and threw him down in a roadside ditch.

They also took Tsh.80,000 from his pockets together with a cellular phone handset and drove off.

Moments later, the car stopped and one the thugs disembarked and boarded a mini bus that was coming from Makuyuni, heading for Arusha town.

Along the way, the bus passengers heard screams coming from the roadside, prompting the driver to stop.

The passengers filed out to investigate, only to discover that, there was a person lying in the ditch, tied up on both lower and upper limbs. They untied him, and he was taken into the bus.

Suddenly, the taxi driver spotted one of the passengers and screamed: "He was among the robbers who hired me!"

Hearing that, the suspect jumped out of the bus and ran way, but he didn’t reach very far. Some passengers happened to be army men, and caught him after some few strides.

The suspect was searched and found with two cellular phones, one belonging to the taxi driver

He later revealed at the police station that his name is Hassan Zuberi (28) and that he resides in Majengo area of Arusha, adding that his mates were heading to Karatu with the stolen car.

The police in Karatu were contacted and laid road blocks ready for the stolen car.

A police vehicle was also sent along the road to intercept the oncoming vehicle lest it changed the route.

When the robbers saw the police car, one of them known as "Kalosi" aimed the pistol and fired at it. Already the suspects had changed the stolen car’s number plates.

At that instance, people thronged the scene and this scared the robbers who got off and tried to escape but according to police reports, they were caught and beaten up in a mob justice and died on their way to hospital.

The dead suspects were named as Athuman Kantru (30), an onion dealer of Monduli, Marco Ntale (39) a driver who has been employed by one George Martin to driver his Land Rover vehicle ARK 157.

The gang was caught with forged car number plates TZS 3014, a bag containing knives, pliers and other gadgets. The arrested suspect Hussein Zuberi, who imposted as the army officer, is still being held by the police.

Last modified: September 11, 2003.
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