HE COULD BE TARGETING YOUR PHONE, "WATCH OUT"

NAIROBI PHONE SNATCHERS
Life in the city is not easy; therefore you should always be alert while in town or when in a matatu heading to your intended destination.  There are people who work very hard in the right way to get a living but then there are those who will wait to rip from someone’s sweat. In Nairobi there are thugs who are specialized in taking passengers’ phones through matatu windows. They have perfected the art in the sense that you wouldn’t even notice how your phone was taken from you.

The thugs always target matatus that are a bit low more especially Nissan matatus, in this way they don’t have to strain trying to reach their target.  They would spot a passenger with a phone most likely those sitting near the window. They follow the matatu swiftly knowing that there is a point the matatu will slow down due to traffic jam. Once the matatu slows down, within a second they have opened the window taken the phone and disappeared into thin air. Some of them will stay in areas characterized with huge traffic jam and wait to attack from there.

They know very well which phone is expensive and which is not therefore; if they look at your phone and realize it’s a cheap phone they will actually not bother at all with you.  While walking along the street there was this guy who wanted to rob from a lady talking on phone. The guy just passed near the lady and looked at the phone and left, after she hang up it’s when one could understand why the guy didn’t pursue her phone further.

In some of these matatus, the conductor alerts people sitting near the windows to keep away their phones until they have left the city center to avoid these encounters. Some of these guys get away with ladies’ handbags in some instances. Stealing a lady’s handbags is like bonus to them because in them they might get a lot of goodies that will go a long way. 

They prefer phones because they are easier to get through the matatu window and it’s something that once taken, they can easily hide it and get among people and no one will suspect them.  That is why you find people on the street selling very nice phones at very low prices.  Someone just approaches you in town and in a low tone; he will ask to sell a phone and shows it to you, yes most of these phones are those that have been taken from other people.

As we all know life has its own challenges but its challenges that make it more interesting. The same thing also happens in Githurai at the stage for those using Thika Road.  Githurai has so many people of all levels and therefore it attracts all sorts of events.

I know several people can relate to these because may be it has happened to them or they have seen it happen to someone, but all we are trying to do is create awareness and help those who are new in Nairobi arrive well at their intended destinations.