MISSING PERSON

Taxi driver arrested as police probe Eastleigh woman abduction

Shankara Adan Hassan, 39 has been missing since October 12, the family said.

In Summary
  • She was in a taxi from Eastleigh Section 3 headed for JKIA when the car was flagged down by people purporting to be police officers. 
  • The driver told police he stopped at the Likoni bridge along Likoni Road in Nairobi.
Shankara Adan Hassan, 39 is missing since October 12, 2023- Handout
Shankara Adan Hassan, 39 is missing since October 12, 2023- Handout

Police are investigating an incident in which a woman vending beverages at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport was hijacked while headed for work. 

Shankara Adan Hassan, 39 has been missing since October 12.

Her family said they had been looking for her in vain.

She has been selling tea at the airport cargo section, her family said. 

Documents produced by the family show she was born in Mandera. 

She was in a taxi from Eastleigh Section 3 headed for JKIA when the car was flagged down by people purporting to be police officers. 

The driver told police he stopped at the Likoni bridge along Likoni Road in Nairobi.

There are other claims the incident took place along Yusuf Haji Road in Eastleigh few kilometres from her house.

The driver reported the matter at the Industrial Area and said men who were in a salon car flagged him down as he drove ahead of it. 

The incident happened at about 10 pm. 

After he stopped the two occupants posed as police officers one in full police uniform alighted and ordered the female passenger to board their vehicle. 

He then told the driver she was wanted and they were escorting her to Shauri Moyo Police Station for interrogation. 

The driver said the woman had been his customer and he frequently picked her up from Eastleigh to the airport and back. 

He then called and informed the victim's relatives about the occurrence and when they went to Shauri Moyo Police Station they were surprised to learn that their sister was nowhere to be found. 

The registration number of the motor vehicle, which the victim was forced to board was not captured, police said. 

Police detained the driver for grilling. This is after it emerged he was providing contradicting information on the incident.

The family of the woman says they have yet to find her since then. No contact has been made.

They want the police to investigate and establish how and why she was taken by the said hijackers. 

They don’t know the motive of the incident. 

Police said they are investigating the incident and have no clue so far on who could be behind it and the motive. 

A section of North Eastern Kenya leaders called on the president to make good his promise of ending mysterious disappearances.

“These disappearances used to be in the last government, in this government we thought they would come to an end and here we are,” Mandera East MP Hussein Waitan said.

Lagdera MP Abdikadir Mohammed added: “Just these few days someone disappeared in Bura another one in Ijara, I think the president needs to come out and crack the whip.”

The taxi driver is expected to be arraigned Monday, police said amid the search for the woman.

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