A 23 -year-old mobile money agent of Nakonde in Muchinga Province, is nursing two bullet wounds in the leg after a failed attempt to snatch K100,000 cash from him.
Muchinga Province Deputy Police Commanding Officer Lucky Munkondya confirms that that the armed bandits who attacked the mobile money agent however, managed to get away with an A8 Samsung cell phone valued at K1,000.
The incident happened at 18:50 hours yesterday at Katozi village.
“ Ms. Munkondya explained that Isaac Halaba, a mobile money agent who operates within Nakonde Central Business District (CBD) was attacked by four unknown male attackers armed with two pistols.
She said that brief facts are that after knocking off at 17:00 hours, Halaba decided to go home in the company of his friend of the same village driving a silver Toyota IST vehicle.
The Deputy Police Commanding Officer said Halaba was carrying K100,000 cash in his laptop bag.
Ms. Munkondya said when they reached near the residence of his friend in Katozi village, they heard gun shots but decided to proceed without checking who was firing shots.
“Halaba and his friend while driving home, heard gun shots but ignored them and decided to proceed, ” said Ms. Munkondya.
Ms. Munkondya said Halaba and his friend were ,however, surprised to discover that the front windscreen was shattered after being hit by a bullet and and out of panic, stopped the vehicle.
After stopping the car, four armed men emerged from the darkness and one of them switched off the car engine, grabbed the Samsung cell phone and a laptop containing the money amounting to K100,000 cash and started running.
However, he pursued the attacker running away with his cell phone and cash and managed to grab back the laptop bag containing cash from the suspect and started running.
Ms. Munkondya said the attacker gave a chase and fired two shots at Halaba which caught him in the left leg.
Halaba was saved by residents who upon hearing gun shots came out to see what was happening forcing the attackers to give up and disappeared in the darkness.
Police rushed the victim to Nakonde district hospital where he is admitted.
Ms. Munkondya described the condition of Halaba as stable.
“Police managed to rush to the scene, combed it but unfortunately could not find the attackers as they were believed to have sneaked into the neighbouring border town,” said Ms. Munkondya.
She said that a docket of case has been opened and a search for the attackers has been launched.
Lawlessness under upnd
Up to now I find it difficult to hit targets at a distance with a pistol or revolver. So the criminal that managed to hit a moving target in the leg isn’t an ordinary criminal. When traders travel to Nakonde for orders they don’t travel with cash. They deposit then withdrawal from dealers at the border town. This makes mobile money dealers vulnerable because they handle a lot of cash. The Police will do well to enhance security especially that our borders are so porous
These youth are risking their lives for nothing working for these Network compaines as self employed workers yet the networks are raking in commisions. The govt needs to regulate this industry …I am look at that picture its an eyesore ..how can one have large amounts of money in a box like that?
How can one allow such a Service in such a unsecure country??