By Editorial
The latest deadly regional scourge is the growing illicit trade in smuggled motorbikes, popularly known as boda boda, which are used for cargo and passenger transport. At the core of this racket are gangs that run the cross-border motorcycle black market.
What started as a convenient means of travel to even the remotest parts without good roads is increasingly becoming a grave risk. Requests for rides not only turn into violent encounters but sometimes result in deaths. Indeed, this is an organised criminal syndicate that is active across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia.
The smart thieves remove surveillance trackers, replace batteries and cut off mud flaps before the motorbikes are taken through unofficial paths, commonly known as panya routes, and resold. Security agencies say the thefts are increasingly carried out by organised relay syndicates, in which one group steals the bikes, another transports them, and the third oversees their resale or dismantling across the border.
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