BEWARE WHILE ON TRAVEL- incident happened to me on night of 5/6 Aug.Am on route to Kampala from Nairobi on Modern coast bus. 10pm night bus. Am On seat No 37. It happened my seat mate seat 38 a male, is a thief.
From onset when I entered the bus at the river road stage, I find the guy seated, he calmly allows me to take the window seat. He says hallo, I nod back, and engages me in some conversation…Mentions that he is going to Eldoret, and asks how far it is and what time we expect to be there. I give him an approximate time of 3- 4 am. I tell him that we have 2-3 hrs to Naks, then another 2 to Eldoret.
He pretends he is a newcomer, (foreigner) with an Congolese Swahili accent, tries very much to sound a Tanzania or a Coastarian, but I could feel he is faking it, and I try to stay alert. So now I stop giving him attention and concentrate on my phone.
He starts a phone call and makes sure I could hear his discussion. On the call, he is explaining to the other party how he had to leave his friend in china when they went to import some goods, how his visa had expired whilst they were waiting for their supplier to fully deliver their order.
How he had to go to Dubai and buy the rest of his goods from Dubai, how he should have known coz Dubai was far cheaper than china.. yada…. yada.. yada… yada….
I lose concentration and fall asleep. We do a stopover in Nakuru, and my seat mate comes back with 2 coffee cups and offers me one, which I politely decline, and say I don’t take coffee. ( a lie ).
After leaving Naks I drift off to sleep and wake up about 30mins to Eldy. Everything seems right, my friend is also asleep and snoring! On Reaching Eldoret, the guy is the first to alight and wishes me safe journey.
Immediately he steps out, I reach my bag overhead, and Waaaah! my laptops are gone. I alight chapchap, try locating the guy, but hes gone!
I immediately notify the bus crew and we canvass loudly. a min or two, a boda boda guy overhears our conversation, comes nearer and says he has just taken a passenger from the same bus to a nearby lodge ( Eastliegh..). The crew tell me to jump on the boda to try and see if we can locate him.
We reach the lodge which is about 300M from the modern bus stage. Entered the lodge, explains to the elderly reception male, and he says the guy has just taken a room and has gone to tbe bathroom.
He shows us the room, which is still open, and I see a small Ragsack bag like the ones for athletics guys, under the bed, I pull it out and all my stuff is there. Thank God.
We arrest the guy, and take him back to the modern coast bus, together with the bus crew, we take him to Eldy police and I write a statement. Now, the eldy police insist that I have to leave behind my laptop as exhibit.
I try to understand with them that now that I have my items recovered, I am not willing to Press charges, that they could at least allow me carry on with my laptop, but they decline. Since we had wasted a lot of time, I oblige, and leave.
All this time, the crew wait for me patiently. Thanks to the modern coast crew for their unwavering support. I forgot to mention watu wa bodaboda team building walituma salamu!
