THE police yesterday described the armed robbery of a Syrian diplomat of 93,000 Euros (over 250m/-) in Dar es Salaam as an inside job.
Commander Muliro said the Syrian official who works as an accountant at the diplomatic office, was hit by an iron bar on his head as robbers forced him to surrender the money. He said Mr Alfaouri left the office at Oysterbay Street at 2:35 pm for Azania Bank’s Mazdo House branch along Samora Avenue where he had to deposit the 93,000 Euros.
The RPC said the driver, who was driving a diplomatic, silver coloured Hyundai car, with registration No.T108 CD, slowed down to a speed of 18 kilometres per hour before coming to a complete stop and switching off the car engine at Zambia avenue.
Immediately after the car stoppage, three people emerged in a salon car, with one of them carrying the iron bar. They opened the doors of the diplomatic car and stormed in, forcing the diplomat to handover the money.
As the diplomat refused tosurrender the money easily, the robbers hit him with the iron bar on his head, injuring him before dragging him out of the car and leaving him stranded, explained the RPC. “Immediately after we received information on the robbery, we conducted a crackdown and recovered the diplomatic car abandoned at Bonde la Mpunga in Msasani,” ACP Muliro recounted.
Details gathered have established beyond reasonable doubt that the burglary was planned by some of the embassy employees, including the driver who remains at large.
According to Kinondoni RPC, the driver whose name was not revealed for investigative reasons, did not offer any help to the diplomat when the robbers were attacking. ACP Muliro said the driver was the prime suspect in the crime as he is the same person who drove away the robbers after the incident. “We are conducting an intensive manhunt for the criminals involved in this raid, including any individuals who might have, in one way or another, facilitated the robbery,” ACP Muliro added.
However, police said they were holding one person in connection with the incident. According to police, procedures of recruiting locals at the embassy raised questions as the Syrian embassy had no background information of the driver. “The embassy does not know where the driver resides. This shows that procedures for recruitment of locals at the embassy are questionable,” ACP Muliro said.
He said it was necessary for diplomatic missions in the country to seek police help when hiring local staff, insisting that all Tanzanian employees in foreign missions should be strictly vetted. The police also asked the public, government, non-governmental organisations and other entities to seek police escort when transferring cash from one point to another.
In another development, police in Kinondoni are holding three people, 62-year old Ramadhan Daimon, Jamila Abdal (26) and Muidini Said (27) over charges of drug dealings
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