The 30-year-old man who killed four security officials near the French embassy in Dar es Salaam was a gold dealer on a supposed revenge mission after police allegedly confiscated his gold, HOL has learned.
A source privy to the family business and who did not want to be named told HOL Hamza Hassan Mohamed may have been motivated by police action and that he did not have any terrorist links despite his brother having been a member of the militant group Al-Shabaab.
“He took his gold to an Indian shop, and while on his way back, police stopped him for not having a helmet. Despite Mohamed explaining to them that he had legal documents for gold trade, the police went away with the gold,” our source said.
Mohamed was known to be using a motorbike, according to multiple sources quoted by Tanzanian media.
The source further noted Mohamed returned to the police station with the gold trade documents, but they sent him away, claiming they did not know him.
The source said that Mohamed decided against this backdrop to go for the police, adding, “he had a licensed gun as many people do in the gold town near Zambia’.
“His father bought land in the border town between Tanzania and Zambia and started the gold business. His sons from the US and Canada had returned to run the family business.”
His father is reported to have died years ago and that his sons had taken over the family gold business in Chunya in Mbeya Region. Media reports in Tanzania said Mohamed was born in the Upanga area in Dar es Salaam.
Source: HOL
