Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Issaya Mngulu
Kilelema village chairman Benedict Samson told reporters that he
managed to arrive at the scene shortly after the incident but the
suspected bandits had already disappeared by then.
He said while at the scene he informed other authorities and
shortly thereafter members of the armed force arrived and took the
injured passengers to Kasulu District Hospital for treatment. The bodies
of the deceased are preserved at the same hospital, he added.
Narrating the incident, a teacher from Kilelema Primary School,
Augustino Mkuvata, who was one of the passengers in the minibus – a
Toyota Hiace make, said an armed man tried to stop their car before the
bomb was thrown into it.
Mkuvata said after the driver sensed that the armed man could be a
bandit, he chose to ignore him and sped away with full lights beam on.
While speeding to save their lives, he told the passengers to lie on their seats.
However, Mkuvata said they didn’t manage to reach very far before
the suspected bandit emerged from the bush and threw the bomb into the
bus, ripping it up.
Buhigwe Officer Commanding District Frank Utonga confirmed to this
paper that the suspected bandits threw the bomb at the min bus but did
not take anything from the passengers, possibly because they feared that
security organs were alerted due to the bomb blast.
“We are currently investigating the incident and we will issue a
report. We want to know why they carried out the mission,” said the OCD.
Mid last month the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Issaya
Mngulu declared that the bombing incidents reoccurring in different part
of the country are organised by Tanzanians and have no association with
any foreign criminal networks as speculated.
DCI Mngulu had told The Guardian in a telephone interview that the
local criminal network comprises a number of people from Ukerewe Island
in Mwanza, Bunda in Mara, Shinyanga, Tanga, Tabora and Coast regions.
According to him, the crime network in the country is extensive and
big and that so far the police have arrested about 25 people in
connection with bombing incidents in Zanzibar, Arusha and other places.
He said that law enforcers are still on the hunt for other criminals.
“This is a very big network … we don’t even have the exact number.
These people are Tanzanians and they are not affiliated with any foreign
criminal networks,” he said.
With regard to the recent bombing incident at a traditional Indian
restaurant in Arusha Region, Commander Mngulu said so far they have
arrested one person who will be interrogated together with two other
suspects who were arrested soon after the incident.
“Surprisingly, most of the weapons used by the criminals are
imported,” the DIC said, disclosing Kigoma and Kagera regions as the
gateway. He however, did not divulge the names of the people involved in
the ugly arms penetration deals.
“We are yet to discover how the weapons penetrate into the country.
The police are working to establish the reasons behind such incidents,”
DCI Mngulu said.
“Since we have not trapped the whole network, there are
possibilities that such incidents can reoccur elsewhere in the country,”
he said.
SOURCE:
THE GUARDIAN
