Hotspots where youths wait to rob accident victims

Kenya: In what has become an allure for fast cash and reaping from where they have not sown, youths along the busy Nakuru-Eldoret Highway while away time waiting for accidents to occur so they may loot from victims.

A recent tragic accident in Kamara, where seven people died when a tanker they were siphoning oil from exploded brought to the fore a major predicament among the youths in Kamara, Sachangwan and Salgaa areas.

In Kamara, youths get to the trading centre from as early as 6am and hang around the roadside until past midnight hoping an accident occurs.

When the oil tanker ferrying fuel from Nakuru to Eldoret overturned, more than 100 youths carrying jerry cans pounced on it immediately, pelting police officers who came to guard the scene with stones. In the end, seven of them died.

“Most youths here are engaged in diesel cartels and whenever a oil tanker is involved in an accident, they strive to make a killing from it,” says Paul Chepkwony, an elder.

Chepkwony says the urge for freebies has made the youths unruly, even defying police warnings. In this particular incident, the police guarding the tanker fired in the air and lobbed tear gas at the advancing youngsters to scare them away in vain.

An officer told The Standard on Sunday that the youths threatened to set the tanker ablaze if the police denied them access to the fuel.

“They turned wild as we tried to stop them and when we did not give way, they set the tanker on fire killing seven people,” says an officer.

Kamara is 30 kilometres from Sachangwan, where 133 people were burned to death in 2009 as they siphoned fuel from an overturned tanker. According to a resident, the youths are always on alert and are well-connected such that when an accident occurs, they are the first to arrive at the scene.

Posing as Good Samaritans out to help, they instead loot from accident victims and disappear before the police arrive. The dead are not spared either.

They mostly target mobile phones, money, side mirrors and luggage. A young man was arrested recently with a bottle of wine he allegedly stolen from an accident scene where three members of a family died in a head-on collision.

Samuel Mutai, a survivor of the tanker explosion, said joblessness drives them to the ‘risky’ habit.

“I do menial jobs and when I heard a tanker had overturned, I rushed to the scene with a container,” said Mutai, who sustained serious burns.

Ready market

He adds: “The explosion was triggered by one of us who wanted to steal the tanker’s batteries”.

Mutai, who vowed never to engage in the dangerous vice again, said he was drunk when he ran to siphon fuel. He says vehicles plying the busy highway offer ready market, and of the money they get, they (youth) use to buy alcohol.

A day before the explosion, residents scrambled for free chewing gum after a lorry that was ferrying candy and books landed in a ditch, less than 100 metres from where the recent incident occurred.

Salgaa Traffic Police boss Alex Mumo said majority of residents have been arrested for stealing from accident victims.

“The youth idle around black spots such as Mukinyai and whenever an accident occurs, they are the first to arrive and steal valuables from the victims,” said Mumo.

But Kamara Location Chief Joseph Korir blamed irresponsible parents, who he claims allow children to quit school and venture into such illegal activities.

Korir said there have been six incidents of fuel siphoning from overturned tankers since June and warned the youth are becoming increasingly lawless.

“Our land is fertile and favourable for farming. But the youth here prefer idling around waiting to loot,” Korir said.

Following the tragic incident, locals held a crisis meeting and issued a stern warning to the wayward youths.

Molo Deputy OCPD Paul Busia and Nicholas Mutua, an inspector of police based in Kamara, warned that they would arrest anyone found siphoning fuel, stealing from accident victims or looting goods on transit.