Dar residents bust child-kidnap gang

BabuK

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Jul 30, 2008
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Martha Alex Moshi


Residents of Kimara Stop Over in Dar es Salaam have exposed a syndicated gang of young women collaborating with human trafficking agents to kidnap children from the city, The Guardian can reveal.
This happened after the rescue of a three-and-half year old child, Martha Alex Moshi, abducted at Kimara Stop Over, on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam on Monday afternoon by a trusted relative, Naomi Martin (a Maasai girl from Arusha).
The hapless child was moved around by her captors for more than eight hours before the child’s parents rescued her after tracking them to a bar in Kinondoni Mkwajuni.
The case is now in the hands of Mbezi Mwisho police where until yesterday, Naomi, who is believed to have hatched the entire plan is detained and undergoing interrogation.
Earlier, Fortunata Peter Sanga (34) who is little Martha’s mother had left for Dar es Salaam University College of Education (DUCE) at Chang’ombe where she is studying, leaving the child in the care of Georgina the housegirl and Naomi, at their home in Kimara Stop Over.
At around noon Naomi, who works with Martha’s younger mother, Angel, ordered the housegirl to go buy her shoe polish from a nearby shop.
On return, the housegirl could neither find Naomi, who was only a distant relative staying with them, nor the child.
It was then that she, together with the neighbours launched a search for Martha to no avail.
Latter, they decided to buzz Naomi, summon her back home to help find the child, who some neighbours claim was spotted leaving the area with her.
On her return home, irate neighbours threatened to beat her unless she said where the child was. Thanks to one Mzee Mhando and other elders, who intervened, quelling the angry neighbours and requesting the girl to help show where the child was.
Naomi agreed after the threats to take them to the place where the child was being held. She first took them to Kijitonyama and then to Kinondoni Mkwajuni where they recovered they recovered the little girl.
The question is how did Naomi get into contact with the two families — that of Fortunata and Angel?
According to Angel, they met Naomi in Arusha while there sometime in December last year. She requested to come to Dar es Salaam and stay in her home, before eventually getting a hotel job.
Angel said she only decided to host her for sometime because she did not have a friend or relatives in the city.
“She asked me to provide her a place to live for few months while looking for her own place after finding work,” she said.
“Naomi is not a relative of mine. She was just a friend and a distant ‘daughter’ who only begged me to give her shelter while looking for a job in town,” Angel said, adding: “I found her a job and she started working on December 31, last year while living with us here.”
She said: “For the period we have been staying with her, Naomi gave us no cause to doubt her and behaved like a relative. She only started to change towards the end of February.”
Angel, who is a mother of one, on noticing the changes warned Naomi to be very careful with every step or action she took while living in Dar.
Martha’s mother said Naomi had recently become familiar with the members of her family, because they live very close to Angel’s house.
“Because she was a friend of my sister, we did not doubt her. Sometimes she would take the children for a walk,” she said.
Residents of Kimara Stop Over say this is the third child to be kidnapped from the area. The whereabouts of the first two, kidnapped late last year and early last month at Bonyokwa and Sangare are not known.
Mbezi Mwisho OCD Milton Tandari refused this paper to talk to Naomi, saying he received the suspect from Kimara Police Station, and had not interrogated her.
However, according to messages exchanged between Naomi and her accomplices, one Anneth from Arusha (believed to be collaborating with her in the hijack) and another one, said to be working with the National Insurance Corporation in Dar es Salaam, Martha was to be trafficked to Arusha today for purposes that are yet to be known.



SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

 
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