07 Sep 2017

Residents of the once peaceful Gaborone City are living in fear following the rising cases of criminal activities by gangs of teenagers armed with guns, knives, and other crude weapons.

These dare-devil armed robbers that have held the city in the grip of fear in recent days are targeting entertainment areas such as bars as well as motorists especially women at traffic lights, passengers alighting or boarding public transport vehicles at bus stops and other hitch-hiking spots and rob them of money and other valuable items such as cellphones and laptops.

Other victims are tailed from ATM machines and robbed in the process.

The terrifying incidents have been reported at bus and taxi stops such as the Taung hitch-hiking spot and Total Filling station bus stop in Broadhurst.

Similar incidents have also been reported in Old Naledi near Water Affairs Headquarters and bus stops along the Old Lobatse Road especially near Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS) offices.

Other affected areas include bus stops along the western by-pass and the Gabane bus stop along the Gaborone-Kanye road.  

These young boys probably live by these crude weapons to complement their heavy appetite for life on the fast lane.

Recently, terrified patrons at Domboshaba bar in Block 8 watched in awe as a group of six young boys aged between 22 and 28 years from Thamaga and Moshupa attacked and killed a police officer who was based at SSKA police station.

The 43-year-old police officer had been with friends entertaining themselves when he met his fate when he was about to get into his car to go home when the thugs dragged him out and hit him with bricks all over the body before one of them stabbed him with a knife.

The six have long been arrested and are in police custody awaiting their case to be committed to the High Court for prosecution.

In Old Naledi, two vehicles were involved in an accident near Water Affairs offices when the driver of one of the vehicles veered off the road apparently trying to avoid a robber who was about to snatch an item from the vehicle through an open passenger door window.

Following these spate of criminal activities, the police have arrested 27 suspects believed to be involved in these smash and grab incidents at traffic lights.

The first batch of six suspects is from Mogoditshane policing area, while the remaining 21 were arrested by Old Naledi, Borakanelo, Gaborone West and Urban police stations.  

Different sources including combi drivers and the police confirmed that the criminals have on several occasions snatched items such as hand bags and cellphones from passengers.

One of the combi drivers plying the Game City Route and who did not want to be named for fear of victimisation explained that “the situation is bad.

We alert our passengers to close the windows and put their items (cellphones and handbags) safely whenever we stop at these bus or taxi stops to load passengers,” he revealed.

He explained that these robbers would pretend to be boarding the combi and all of a sudden they would snatch an item from an unfocused passenger and disappear into thin air, adding that in most cases, this happens during the day.

Recalling a recent incident, another driver (name withheld) plying the Mmopane/Gaborone route stated that two robbers who were in the combi stopped him at a designated stop at Ghanzi Beef turn-off in Gaborone West  at knife point before they robbed everyone of valuable items that include cellphones and hard cash.

Acting Station Commander of Old Naledi Assistant Superintendent Meshack Dambuza explained that out of the 27 suspects arrested, 10 are from Old Naledi.

He said a number of items such as ladies ‘handbags, purses, Identity Cards, driver’s licences and bank cards were recovered from the suspects.

Assistant Superintendent Dambuza further stated that most of the victims are women who are naturally defenceless people, adding that most of the hotspots in his area of jurisdiction include traffic lights at Water Affairs, BURS and Seabelo House.

He said though they have arrested 10 suspects, some are still at large as evidenced by the continuation of smashing of vehicles and other criminal activities in some of these hotspots.

Assistant Superintendent Dambuza advised people to be extra vigilant especially at traffic lights by closing up car windows to avoid such incidences, saying the robbers operate in groups of three to four.

He stated that the suspects were arrested one after the other after a tip-off by a resident, adding that the 21, who were remanded in custody, will appear again for another mention on September 18 at Broadhurst Magistrate Court.

Inquiries by this reporter revealed that residents have little confidence in the capacity of the police in Gaborone to curb the criminal activities of the gangs.

One trader at Taung Bus stop who also did not want to be named narrated an incident to buttress his point “They (robbers) sometimes rob commuters in day light. The police are never visible at these hot spots as one would have expected.”

However, Officer Commanding for District NO 3 Senior Superintendent Bonnie Bareki acknowledged the security situation in Gaborone and assured that the police were making efforts to bring under control the gang violence in the city citing that the arrest of the 21 gang robbers is yet another break through by the police. BOPA