Mogadishu (PP News Desk) — Earlier today in the Hamarweyne district of Mogadishu, a traffic police officer shot a tuktuk driver for refusing to transfer $5 into the officer’s mobile money account. “I am a tuktuk driver, and I am here with my fellow tuktuk drivers not to demonstrate or cause disturbances. We are sending our condolences to the family of a tuktuk driver who has lost a family member and had another injured. The President, Prime Minister and the Mayor of Mogadishu remain indifferent to our plight. Every year, soldiers kill tuktuk drivers, but no one holds them accountable for the crimes they commit,” said Hassan, one of the tuktuk drivers who spoke to a Kaab TV reporter.
Hassan explained that the incident began when a traffic police officer asked the tuktuk driver to produce a driving licence. “The tuktuk driver said, ‘I don’t have it with me now.’ Then the traffic police officer demanded a $5 bribe to be wired into his [EVC] account. When the driver said he didn’t have $5, the officer killed him,” Hassan added.
Tuktuk drivers in Mogadishu frequently complain about paying taxes but receiving no protection from extortion by traffic police officers. The traffic police officer who killed the tuktuk driver fled the scene.
© Puntland Post, 2024
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