CRIMINALS ON THE PROWL AT NATIONAL HEROES STADIUM

Sun, 31 Dec 2017 08:48:42 +0000

By BENNIE MUNDANDO

CRIMINALS are way-laying people passing through National Heroes Stadium car park in the evenings and confiscating their belongings by force under the disguise that they have been employed by stadium management to deal with trespassers.

One of the victims, Mr Thompson Nyirenda, yesterday explained to the Daily Nation how the thugs waylaid him as he was crossing over from the Olympic Youth Development Centre on Friday around 19:00 hours.

Mr. Nyirenda said he has been passing through Heroes Stadium car park enroute home since the construction started on the Great North Road near the stadium but that on the material day, he was approached by a man who introduced himself as an employee of stadium management and asked why he was trespassing.

He said when he demanded for the man’s identity card, he was directed to go near gate E where other “trespassers” had been rounded up and that when he reached there, he was forced to sit down with four others.

“I found a gang waiting for me while other people who were allegedly caught for trespassing sat on the ground and before I could ask for their IDs, I was roughed up and ordered to sit down. We were searched and our personal belongings such as phones, money, and anything they could set their hands on was confiscated. They beat us up and left.

“At that time, that was when it occurred to me that these people were not employees of stadium management but thieves who were doing criminal activities under the disguise that they were guarding the premises,” Mr. Nyirenda said.

He said Heroes had become a hide-out for criminals because of the poor lighting system around the stadium and that if the criminal activities that were going on were not quelled, the surrounding community would be the next target.

“People have been passing through Heroes as late as 20:00 hours without any problem. The poor lighting system at the stadium is what has attracted these criminal activities and if nothing will be done to rectify the situation, more people will continue being robbed.

“Worse still, the community around the stadium will be in problems because these people will not spare them once they consolidate their criminal activities,” Mr Nyirenda said.