Police talk of people with machetes behind panic in Zanzibar

According to West Urban region police commander Richard Tadei Mchomvu, four people have been attacked while in their homes at Dole and Mwanyanya in the region.

He said the police had launched a manhunt for the suspects adding that it has arrested six people in connection to the matter.

He said the assailants are believed to be men aged between 13 to 30 who walk in groups and attack people by breaking doors in homesteads.

He said during the exercise they also managed to recover a television set which is believed to have been stolen by the assailants during one of their raids.

“The suspects enter into houses, break and steal whatever they see in their way and in this case they broke into six houses, attacked owners and stole various items including a computer, phones and money amounting to 85,000/-,” he said.

He said during the incident four people were seriously injured with Machetes in their various parts of the body where two have been released and two are still nursing injuries at Mnazi Mmoja referral hospital in the Isles.

RPC Mchomvu said efforts to search for the other suspects are ongoing adding that by the time investigations are completed they will be taken to court in accordance with the law.

“The Police Force has already created a task force involving two regions to work together to search for the assailants,” he said.

He hailed the public for the support they have accorded the police and asked them to continue to cooperate with the security and defense agencies to provide prompt information on the whereabouts of the suspects.

One of the victims of the attacks, Salum Kemani (45) said that at night on December 30, while they were sleeping, they heard voices of a group of people shouting and breaking the door and instantly started attacking them.

“Me and my 24-year-old brother-in-law seriously injured us after they ordered us to give them money even though we don't have any and that's when they attacked us,” he said.

“My brother-in-law’s condition was the worst after he arrived at the hospital, he was rushed to a referral hospital for further treatment,” he said.

He commended the police for acting swiftly on the incidents saying such kind of people derail development activities.