BUJUMBURA January 16th (ABP) – The General Commissariat of the Judicial Police showed on Monday, January 14, 2019 to the media, alleged culprits of cases of scams that have become commonplace in these days in the Bujumbura City. Those people are divided into three groups, according to crime they commit.
The press wanted to know why when they are arrested and then imprisoned, such scammers spend no time in the prison and therefore they reoffend the same crimes. In that regard, Manisha replied that “according to the judicial procedure, the judicial police do their job and the justice ministry does its task. However, he said that the police will have to mention in the files that those are repeat offenders for the prosecution to take it into consideration.The first group consists of people who claim to be “businessmen” and who swindle people by telling them that they sell gold bullion. According to General Judicial Police Commissioner Emile Manisha, that group has already made several victims, stating for example that some of them had already given advances to those crooks. The 2nd group swindles people through cyber crime. They collaborate with a certain Divine Bakundukize, detained in the central prison of Gitega. This one creates facebook accounts on behalf of the different high authorities of the country. With the complicity of his acolytes, he contacts people, especially the unemployed, by promising them employment, for a sum of money. Those acolytes collect that money they share with their leader. The recent case that Manisha targeted testifies that this group has created a facebook account on behalf of the Commissioner General of the Burundi Revenue Authority (OBR). Some victims thought they were communicating with the OBR Commissioner General while they were in contact with cybercriminals. The latter had already collected a sum of more than seven million Burundian francs. Faced with this cybercrime, the judicial police commissioner calls on people to the vigilance because this crime is increasingly alarming. He asks them to alert the police as soon as possible whenever the existence of a network of those criminals is suspected. Thus, Manisha asks anyone who has been the victim of that kind of scam to come to the police to file a complaint. He does not understand how educated people can be swindled in that way, believing that they are in contact with a respectful authority such as the First Lady of the country, the OBR Commissioner General, the Secretary General of the ruling party and others, who ask them for money before offering them a service.
The last group is of a motorcycle taxi driver who hides behind this job to steal from people. He forcibly takes handbags to ladies or damsels who are either customers or passers-by on public roads. After his arrest, the police searched his home and found more than 13 women’s handbags. Here too, Manisha asks anyone whose goods have been stolen in that way to come to the police, for a preparation of the files on such a cases.
