By BERNARD SANGA

MOMBASA, KENYA: A wave of daring daytime carjacking and robbery has hit Mombasa, mounting pressure on the already strained security apparatus in the area.

On Thursday, two British tourists escaped unhurt when an unknown man threw a grenade onto a van they were travelling in as it approached Likoni from Diani in Kwale. The Russia-made explosive failed to go off despite hitting the van’s side window. Police say the suspected assailants fled without trace. A day after the attack, experts argued that the grenade could have ripped the van apart and killed all the occupants, had it exploded.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Attacks of this nature are common in Likoni and police have often linked them to Al Shabaab. Early this year, a policeman was killed in the area in a grenade explosion as officers tried to storm a house in search of a terrorist suspect.

Likoni is notoriously and historically insecure, a credential it shares with Kisauni, where mugging and rape are common.

In November, a policeman was shot dead in Kisauni. This happened after more than nine officers were killed over the last election period in Kisauni and Miritini.

ATTACK ON BOOTHS

Raids on isolated police booths in Kisauni forced police authorities to shut down many of these satellite stations. Meanwhile Mombasa County has in the last three months witnessed runaway insecurity and local political leaders and residents are calling for an overhaul of some police stations.

They say some officers have overstayed in those stations.

Lobby groups have also questioned motive behind the recent partnership between the

National Police Service (NPS) and Mombasa County’s Inspectorate department. The move, they claim, has allowed the Inspectorate officials to use vehicles, which were recently donated to the police in the region in efforts to combat crime.

“These cars are fitted with communication gadgets and these (members of the Inspectorate) are civilians. They are listening to all security communications. This could be the leak of security information that has led to the escalation of insecurity in the town,” says Yassin Nour, a member of the Mombasa for Change group.

In September, the Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo and Mombasa County Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to permit the police to use 50 vehicles donated by individuals and institutions in Mombasa.

The first batch of 12 vehicles and ten motorcycles was launched in September and the second batch comprising double-cabin pickups and cars were unveiled during the Jubilee celebrations in Mombasa Stadium.

A spot check by Standard on Sunday indicates that indeed police officers are driven by officials from the Inspectorate department, but Mombasa County Commissioner Robert Kitur says there is no cause for alarm.

“We have incorporated members of Mombasa County Inspectorate team in our operation. They monitor how these vehicles are used. Security operations have been demystified and it is largely in the hands of civilians like cases of community policing and the Nyumba Kumi initiative, and we have nothing to hide,” said Kitur in a telephone interview.

He said more civilians would be incorporated in the police operations because “security is a public exercise that civilians should be actively involved.”

Robberies have escalated in the recent past. Early this year, gangsters armed with AK-47 rifles raided Nyali Golf Club. Kisauni OCPD Julius Wanjohi said the four gangsters robbed revellers of cash and mobile phones at gunpoint around 8pm. Last July a 39-year-old Japanese contractor, Saturu Ogawa, was shot dead in a botched robbery in Port Reitz area at Changamwe.

SECURITY GUARD

In November 19, another five armed gangsters hijacked a security van and shot dead a security guard before taking away Sh2 million.

According to Julius Wanjohi the thugs had hijacked Security Group Africa van near Nyali Estate as it was transporting the money to Mombasa town.

In Ganjoni area a gang of gangsters using motorbikes have been staging daring daytime robberies targeting mainly businessmen.

A businessman was shot by a group of six thugs at his business premises in Ganjoni on December 3. Jamal Ali Mohammed, 22, was grazed in the neck by a bullet and is currently recuperating at Aga Khan Hospital in Mombasa.

Witnesses say the thugs, who were on motorbikes, had robbed a wholesale near a spare parts shop before they attacked him. Co-ordinated robberies and carjackings have also been reported in Nyali and Changamwe areas. In November 1, two gangsters armed with an AK 47 rifle were shot dead in a botched robbery near Nyali Cinemax. Police said the two had tried to carjack a Chinese citizen near Links Road in Nyali.

According to Wanjohi, the gangsters had trailed the man from his room. Late last month (November 24), Nyali residents staged a demonstration over frequent cases of mob justice in the area. The residents complained that suspected thugs killed elsewhere were being ferried to a particular spot in Maweni area of Nyali Constituency where they were burnt.

A group calling itself “funga file” that operates in Maweni has been linked to the spate of lynching of suspected robbers in the county. The group is said to be ‘fetching’ suspected robbers from their homes from as far as Bombolulu, Changamwe to Bamburi and taking them to Kisauni inside a Church compound where they lynch them. The recent lynching case involved a 16-year-old boy who was killed and his body set ablaze in Maweni area.

“We are tired of suspected thugs being brought here to be burnt to ashes. Some of these suspects are taken all the way from Bombolulu, Mwandoni and other areas only to be brought here to be burnt. This place has become a crematorium,” said Hanningtone Ochieng Ounda during the demonstration.

Nyali MP Hezron Awiti says the insecurity witnessed in the area is due to police laxity and asked for the transfer of officers who have overstayed in the area.

Mombasa has also been hit by a wave of intra-Muslim conflict.

Youths linked to slain Sheikh Aboud Rogo are accused of attempting to take over mosques in Mombasa.

The militants believed to be from Musa Mosque where Rogo used to preach have allegedly been trying to oust clerics from Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya CIPK from mosques accusing them of betraying Islam and associating themselves with the Government.

Already the militants have taken over the Musa Mosque, Sakina Mosques and Umar bin Khattab.

They have also threatened to take over Liwatoni and Mbaruk mosques. Kitur said police would only be proactive to stop such insecurity if the public volunteered information in time.