Tanzania’s Inspector-General of Police, Simon Sirro, on Friday, said police have identified the vehicle used to abduct east Africa’s youngest billionaire, Mohammed Dewji, nine days ago.
Sirro said the vehicle came from a neighbouring country which he, however, did not name at a news conference in the business capital, Dar es Salaam.
Dewji, the country’s 43-year-old business tycoon, was kidnapped on Oct. 11, when he was about to enter a hotel gym for his routine workout in the leafy Oysterbay area in Dar es Salaam.
Sirro displayed a photo showing the dark blue and silver lining vehicle, explaining that
“the vehicle entered into Tanzania on Sept. 1, 2018.”
The police chief, who did not indicate which boarder point the vehicle entered through, said it was driven by a person he identified as Obasanjo Zacharias Junior.
According to CCTV footage, Sirro said, the AGX 404 MC-plate numbered vehicle used the Haile Selassie, Ally Hassan Mwinyi, Kimeri, Maandazi and Mwai Kibaki roads before disappearing to Mlalakuwa neighbourhoods near the Kawe roundabout.
Sirro said most residences in the area where the business tycoon was kidnapped in Oysterbay have installed CCTV cameras, enabling the police to acquire the footage, leading to the identity of the vehicle.
“We are in touch with our Interpol colleagues in neighbouring countries and beyond as investigations are ongoing,” said the police chief.
Soft-spoken Dewji is the chief executive and leading shareholder of the MeTL Group, a family-owned Tanzanian conglomerate with operations in manufacturing, agriculture, haulage, trading and real estate.
It is one of the largest industrial conglomerates in east Africa, with annual revenues hitting about 1.5 billion dollars and employing more than 20,000 people. (Xinhua/NAN)