Dar es Salaam: Police arrest 11 over IFM hostels crimes

BY DEVOTA MWACHANG`A

Just a day after students from the Institute of Finance Management (IFM) in Dar es Salaam marched to the Ministry of Home Affairs protesting a wave of crime at their hostels in Kigamboni, police yesterday said that they have arrested eleven people in connection with the crimes.

The arrests follow a crackdown announced by Dar es Salaam Special Zone Police Commander Suleiman Kova on Monday to catch criminals who have been raiding students’ properties and mistreating them.

Speaking to The Guardian through the telephone Kova said: “We arrested eleven suspects on Monday, following, the crimes including stealing students’ properties.”

Kova said his office talked to three IFM students who were appointed to assist the police in the investigations as part of community policing.

He said police are collecting more information from ‘wananchi’ who volunteered to disclose details of the criminals as well as listing names of students who are said to be the victims of the crimes before they decide on how to handle them.

On Monday Students of IFM in Dar es Salaam marched to the Ministry of Home Affairs protesting a wave of crimes at their off campus hostels in Kigamboni.

The students who marched from the Institute’s grounds to the police headquarters said that the police force had failed to take actions against the bandits who have been stealing students’ properties including laptops, mobile phones and money, despite the fact that they had reported the incidents.

IFM students’ organization President Michael Charles said they wanted to meet with Commander Kova to hear their stand on the actions to be taken by the government against the bandits because they had been reporting the theft incidents to the police, but no actions were taken.

“We have been reporting these incidents for about a year now and we have the police reports (RB). We also met with Officer Commanding District in Kigamboni over the issue, but the situation has not improved. We are forced to believe that police may be involved in these acts,” he said.

He said about 80 percent of IFM students were living in Kigamboni, asking what actions the police were taking against students who have been affected by the crimes including reports of some being molested.

Temeke Regional Police Commander Englebert Kiondo confirmed to have received the reports about the bandits over a month ago, blaming the OCD for failing to make a follow-up on the reports.

He said the students had demanded security during the day and at night, but this could not be implemented, for there had been no prior discussions on the matter.

He clarified that it was impossible for the police to provide such security to the students because the hostels were privately owned.

Kiondo blamed the students for not reporting the matter to Kigamboni police station, although the students insisted that they did and had evidence of RBs.

Kova announced a special operation to hunt for the criminals effective from Monday and called upon ‘wananchi’ to collaborate with the police by disclosing the names of people suspected to be involved in the crimes.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN (16/01/2013): http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=50180