Police vow to smash killer ring

Dar es Salaam. At least 80 police officers were on Saturday dispatched to Vikindu Village in Mkuranga District as part of an operation to dismantle a network of criminals.

The move comes a day after police officers and Tanzania People’s Defence Forces soldiers battled with heavily armed gangsters for more than eight hours in the village.

Dar es Salaam Special Police Zone Commander Simon Sirro on Saturday remained tight-lipped on the number of people killed, injured or captured on Friday when police exchanged fire with suspected gangsters in house at Vikindu.

However, he said the operation would cover Vikindu, Dar es Salaam and other parts of the Coast Region to flush out the criminals.

Unconfirmed reports said a top anti-robbery police officer, ASP Thomas Njiku, was killed in the crossfire.

Spot checks in Vikindu on Saturday established that situation was back to relative normality although people were still apprehensive about what happened in the early hours of Friday.

People ventured near the house where the gang engaged police in a gun fire. The building was riddled with bullet holes.

Speaking to The Citizen, villagers claimed they were not close to the occupants of the house.

“I used to see a dark-skinned young man jog at 6am each day. He would then leave the house and return at around 10pm,” said Mr Cassian Paul, a resident of Vikindu.

Another villager only identified as Zainab, said one day she went to ask for something from the occupants of the house but she was amazed at the numerous people in the house scampered into rooms instead of assisting her.