Dar es Salaam. Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Camillius Wambura said on Thursday, September 2, 2021, that investigation into the person who was involved in the August 25th armed encounter in Dar es Salaam was “a terrorist who has been training through social media for a very long time.”
Hamza Hassan Mohamed killed three police officers and one civilian during the armed encounter that took place at the Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road from the Selandar Bridge area before he was neutralized. He was buried on August 29, 2021, at the Kisutu cemetery, in Dar es Salaam.
Mohamed, a thirty-year-old resident of Upanga, Dar es Salaam, caused mayhem to city dwellers using the Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road, causing both private and commuter transport to temporarily stop movements. Some car owners even abandoned their vehicles and ran for cover.
“He was consuming a lot of online materials that showed activities of terrorist organizations like the Al-Shabaab and [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] ISIS,” Wambura told reporters in the Tanzanian city of Mwanza on Thursday. “[Mohamed’s] behaviour was informed by communications he had with people from countries that are known to have criminal activities such as terrorism.”
Wambura dismissed claims that Mohammed might have done what he did following an alleged robbery of precious metals he had in his possession by police officers as “false,” adding that the man’s alleged mining business had stopped a very long time ago.
Family members, neighbours and co-workers have at separate occasions all described Mohammed as a “calm, charming, and hardworking” person, saying they have never suspected him with anything nearing crime let alone terrorism.
On August 28, 2021, Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Simon Sirro faced backlash over his remarks against Mohammed’s parents that people, including activists and politicians, called “reckless and disrespectful.”
Speaking with journalists in Dar es Salaam, IGP Sirro said: “How does [Mohammed’s] family feel? Suppose you were his father or mother or sibling, how would you feel? Your giving birth has brought Tanzanians a disaster. So let me urge other Tanzanians not to give birth to people like him.”
Following the statement, opposition ACT-Wazalendo was among those who condemned it by issuing a statement calling for IGP Sirro’s resignation, saying that his utterances do not “measure up gentlemanly standards and goes against [the Constitution] that prohibits any form of discrimination of lowering the humanity of a person.”
