Police have confirmed recording cases of thugs attacking unsuspecting motorists in fuel queues, especially during the evening and have since asked motorists to be alert and ensure they have company in such circumstances.
South West Police Region deputy spokesperson Beatrice Mikuwa in an interview yesterday acknowledged the incidents, saying some thugs have taken advantage of the prevailing fuel shortages to attack motorists in fuel queues.
She said they launched investigations that have led to the recovery of some stolen items, including mobile phones.
Said Mikuwa: “Criminals are coming up with diverse techniques to attack people based on the situation at that particular time.
“But as police, we are doing all what we can to ensure the safety of motorists in fuel queues as we have teams which conduct patrols at all the service stations.”
She also advised motorists to be accompanied by relatives or friends, lock their car doors every time and avoid opening windows in full, particularly at night. She said security starts with oneself.
Commenting on the development, road safety specialist Chifwede Hara also noted the escalated cases of robberies in fuel queues and asked police to intensify security in filling stations.
He further advised motorists to avoid exposing valuables such as laptops and mobile phones in their respective cars as such gadgets attract robbers’ attention.
Said Hara: “Filling station owners should also come up with initiatives to ensure the safety of their customers particularly those in the tail end of the fuel queues. Sometimes they [filling station owners] know that not all motorists will fuel their vehicles based on the volumes they have received.”
In the past week, at least six motorists have been attacked at fuel queues in Kanjedza and Machinjiri townships in Blantyre City.
One of the motorists, who was in the company of his wife, said he was attacked on Monday at around 6.40pm at Kanjedza Puma Service Station.
Said the victim: “I lost my mobile phone in the scuffle.We thank God for sparing our lives. We are safe generally after managing to drive away, but that was after a scuffle as the rascals, about three in number, tried to snatch both phones and other valuables while shouting threats to hack us.”
The incident occurred a week after a similar incident happened in a queue at Kanjedza Total Service Station in the same vicinity on August 7.
During the earlier incident, a woman said she was attacked and her efforts to seek help by hooting hit a snag.
Similar attacks have also happened in Chitawira Township.
The attacks appear to be restricted to Blantyre as both Central West Police Region deputy spokesperson Foster Benjamin and his Northern Region Police Region counterpart Augustus Nkhwazi said no such incidents have been reported in their respective regions.
