Juba residents wary of criminal gangs posing as Noah Taxi operators
Find out why some Noah Taxis are not safe to board in Juba
JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN: 07/01/2022: Police and residents in the South Sudan capital are expressing concern about a new group of criminals who are robbing people of their valuables.
The criminals drive around in the city along major routes posing as taxi operators.
Citizens who experienced this say they were robbed of their backpacks, computers, phones, and money among other items.
Minisare Hannan, a resident of Juba’s Gudele neighborhood, is one of the people who were robbed by these criminals driving in Japanese made Toyota Noah cars pretending to be taxi drivers picking people along the way.
She was picked from Pity Oil fuel station along Gudele road. She says the vehicle stopped and the driver asked her to get in.
There were four other men and one woman inside the vehicle. Hannan was robbed when she was going to pay her landlord in Munuki – Souk Libya, a market in Juba.
When the vehicle reached Gudele One market, the other occupants asked her to choose between her belongings and her life.
“When we reached Buwaba, (Gudele One taxi stage), they said they’re sorry they’re not going again to custom, they’re supposed to stop in Buwaba.” Hannan recalled.
She offered to get down but they had a different offer, contrary to normal taxi operators.
“They said sister, may you leave the bag for us? Then I asked for what? Then they said let me choose one (between); going with them or leaving the bag. I decided to leave the bag.” Hannan said.
She said she gave in because her life is precious. The criminals took two of her phones alongside her backpack, which also contained her valuables, including 300 US dollars and 49,000 South Sudanese Pounds she was going to pay for a shop she was supposed to rent in Muniki.
Unfortunately, she lost contact with her landlord as well as the shop. Hannan vows never to pick taxis along the roadside after experiencing that ordeal.
“Walai I will never, I would rather walk upto the taxi park to board a taxi.”
Kajokare Santos Evans, was picked at the University of Juba roundabout. He says when he reached his final destination at the Customs market, he asked the driver to drop him, but instead of stopping, they sped off towards Bilpam.
Evans says they drove at a very high speed that surprised other road users, including the traffic police personnel stationed along the Custom Munuki – Bilpam road.
While in Noah taxi, the criminals threatened Evans and asked him to surrender any valuable item he had except for work documents and his national ID.
“They started interrogating me to pull whatever I have. At that time, I had 10,000 pounds, a smartphone and my national ID but they said they don’t want work documents, ‘you bring all the valuable things you’ve before we do something to you.” Evans recalls.
“Since it was difficult for me to escape, I decided to hand over everything that I had. After taking everything, they took me towards Bilpam road, pulled me down and continued running towards Bilpam.” He added.
After losing every penny he had, Evans was stranded with no means of transport back home. Thanks to a longtime friend who happened to pass by and offered him a lift on a motorbike.
Rose Yawa, a resident of Dar El Salaam area, was once trapped in these criminal’s cars earlier in January last year. She was picked from the Rainbow football pitch, commonly known as Medan Rainbow.
Yawa says after a short distance the driver stopped and asked her where she was going. When she told him she was going to custom, he said she had to get down because they were headed for Juba town instead. She didn’t know they had locked the doors and robbed her in the process of her struggling to open it.
“I wanted to open the door, it was stuck and couldn’t open, I wanted to put my hand outside to open it from outside, the vehicle (window glasses) couldn’t open. In that process I was struggling to open the door, they opened my bag, removed my smartphone, removed the 70,000 SSP I had in the bag, I never knew.” Yawa discloses.
She also survived a second attempt along Custom Malakia road when a black Noah car with tinted windows stopped to pick her. But this time, Yawa peeped into the car before boarding. When she saw only beautiful girls in the car, she became suspicious and refused to board.
Police say these are new trends of crimes. Brigadier General James Dak Karlo, the deputy spokesperson for the South Sudan National Police Service, says the police are going to investigate these crimes and deal with the criminals according to the law.
“It’s like scenarios of bodaboda riders being killed, it’s like people committing suicide, these are new scenarios, of course cattle raiding and kidnapping, burning cars, these are cases which we have already exhausted but the new scenarios reported, the police are making measures against it.”
According to these sources, the Kidnappings have been happening since 2018, and criminals seem to be foreign nationals. The Insider could not independently verify these claims.
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