A UNHCR vehicle from Dadaab that was hijacked by suspected al Shabaab militants on Wednesday morning has been recovered.
Speaking to the Star on the phone yesterday, Fafi district commissioner Geoffrey Taragon said the vehicle was recovered on Wednesday evening at Ruka, 70km from Hagadera and five kilometres from Somalia.
“Our officers managed to recover the vehicle at 5pm after a hot pursuit of the militia men who were determined to cross over with it to Somalia,” Taragon said.
“This mission was made possible because the Nissan patrol vehicle is fitted with a tracking system. Our officers used this to track it up to where they found it abandoned.”
He said it was by God’s grace that the militants were caught in the nick of time just before they crossed over to Somalia. Taragon said recovering the vehicle could have been more difficult had it crossed to Somalia.
“We however did not manage to arrest anyone and only found the abandoned vehicle,” he said.
The three militias waylayed the driver of the UNHCR car as it was awaiting security to escort it to Camp Oss, a new refugee camp.
They then shot the driver three times on his right arm before pulling him out together with his co-driver and the drove the car towards Somalia.
Sources told the Star that the militants could only have been interested in the car, which is still new and only used to carry top staff.
Taragon said the driver is still admitted at the Dadaab District Hospital.
Source: the star
