Forget about the looks - meet the smart thieves of Nairobi

She walks majestically into the matatu, after checking for empty seats, she settles next to me. She is breathless. A woman of fair complexion, in her early thirties, slim, short. Sighs with relief as she takes her mobile phone, a Samsung Galaxy, I cant immediately tell which series, but from the name on its face, it is a Samsung, no doubt."I almost lost my items, in the matatu, while travelling to the CBD, from Kenyattta Hospital....." she speaks to a voice in the other end, I presume it is a family member or even the spouse. After a lengthy talk with the person, I decide to provoke a conversation between us. "Our streets are insecure nowadays, you need to be vigilant.. " I say. The dialog starts. Her name is Maureene* not her real name, and works in the hospitality field. She works in Eastlands. As she narrates to me about her experience that afternoon, I feel sorry for her. She still shakes, de ja vu. Two smartly dressed guys had boarded a matatu they were in, at 'Community' en route the city centre. They are tall, well groomed with brown envelopes while one is as well carrying a laptop handbag. When they reach Hilton Hotel, there is traffic jam and some passengers take advantage to alight. The smart gentlemen chooses their victims-two ladies, Maureen is one of them. They rush, each sits next to the target and they shout in unison :"fungeni mishipi ! fungeni mishipi! Makarao! "(fasten your seatbelts! fasten your seat belts! the police are here!" As the passengers fumble to locate the old forsaken belts, the fingers are "doing the walking," the decently dressed guys are using the envelopes to obscure the victim's view as they try to open the ladies handbags. It happens fast. The gentleman who had sat near the other woman stands and starts to move to the backside of the minibus where he came from from still shouting, mission accomplished? Then in that instance, Maureen feels a movement in his handbag - the smartly dressed neighbor is almost opening it but her palm resting on the zip is obstructing his plans. She screams, and alights, she is scared . The guys, sensing danger they also disembark, melts into crowd and are seen chatting happily with another group of equally expensively dressed men near Standard Chattered Bank Tom Mboya Street. That is how thieves in Nairobi operate. They are smart in clothes and brains. Their favorites are expensive jeans and Polo shirts, with a matching cap, expensive sports shoes and ritzy leather footwears.Some wear suits, sometimes with a handbag or envelope. A thief is no longer the poor looking, thing rugged fellow. No more. The new Nairobi thief clean shaven and well groomed with a "public opinion" You will mistaken them for dignitaries or civil servants, celebrities or plain cloth police officers, until your phone is snatched from your hand and he slights, saunters into the crowd. Thugs in Nairobi have become high-tech, to say the least. Their methods are varied, some use tricks, while others use drugs to overpower their victims. Some claim are conducting betting in the street, they entice you to choose a lucky number, as you go there out curiosity, behind you others who are professional pickpockets will be sorting your pockets. Some have resorted to professional begging, by feigning sickness and disability. Those are people at work, trying to make ends meet, at all cost. There spouses budget they have gone for work in town. Only that the wives will never know where they work until one day when she is called by the police to identify that bullet charred body lying at City Mortuary. Today, in Nairobi town, police or no police, there are places you cannot carry your phone or bag carelessly as you walk, it will go! If you in a matatu sitting next to window, keep browsing on your smart phone and laptop or tablet, but don't say you were not warned. The Hotspot include:Kumasi Road, River Road, Race Course Road(near Oct stage), Ronald Ngala Streat, Tom Mboya Street, near fire station and Koja mosque. Luthuli Avenue, Sheikh Karume Road, Gabarone Road, Landhies Road and Mfangano Street, downtown.

Forget about the looks - meet the smart thieves of Nairobi

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