[B][SIZE=5]Copy/Paste credit Ngatia Bryan[/SIZE]
Inna Lillah wa Inna Ilayhi Raji’oon may Allah accept his worship and give him an easy account.[/B]
Edward Maina Shimoli was just something else. Shimoli was Mohammed Ali’s jaramandia la uhalifu plus kirindanda plus bweta multiplied by paruwanja la uhalifu. A cat has nine lives… Shimoli was the kind that even cats looked up to. In the cat world, it is Shimoli who had nine lives.
They respected him more because no cat is on record being hunted by the Kenya Police. Or even surviving a brush with them. Shimoli did this for over 10 years. By the age of 20, he had made his steps into the world of crime. His gang, one that terrified even police officers, had kicky name; The Dream Team.
They operated under one cardinal rule: never rob someone from the neighbourhood. Anyone else was pretty much fair game. They were all about that big-league bank heists and what not. In the early 90s, Shimoli came up properly in the police scope. By then he also operated under the names Philip Opiyo Ouma and Osman Arap Songok. And had ID cards for both of them. In July 1996, Shimoli and his gang staged a robbery spank at the middle of the CBD. They walked into Bank of Baroda totting guns and walked out with 5 million shillings.
In the chase that followed, cops had the closest encounter with him by then. They shot at his gang near Safari Park on Thika Road and killed one of his accomplices. The rest of the gang vanished with the loot. Most of his accessories were women, since they raised less suspicion. He got so good at evading capture, that he was nicknamed Carlos The Jackal, after the Venezuelan terrorist.
Somehow, even at the height of his criminal activities, Shimoli would still find time to hang out at his based chewing miraa with the boys (not Roysa kwa Vaite). They called the base Fallujah. Go figure Again, that year, the police were tipped off that Shimoli was hiding out in Kinoo. So, they made a beeline for the area, but it was too late. By the time they arrived, he had dissipated yet again. But this time, he left a few things behind. An AK 47, two pistols, stolen cars, fake number plates and, surprise, a police radio. He had been listening to them and their plans all along. Shimoli’s favoured gun was a Taurus pistol. He used it liberally. Driving terror into those who heard about him.
On the flip side, he still maintained the maxim. Never robbing people from his hood. Actually, he did the opposite. He stopped petty crime in his neighbourhood.
If someone reported a robbery to him, or if he heard that one of his neighbours had been robbed, he’d carry out his investigations, pin the perpetrators down and give them 24 hours to return the stolen goods. They always did. No one wanted to come face to face with his Taurus. Shimoli was keeping his friends close.
Occasionally stepping into a bar and buying everyone drinks. He was keeping his enemies even closer, the police knew how generous he could be. He would distribute his loot to those he deemed necessary to his existence.
The world crime, though, is erratic and no matter how much you take care of your people, one day you cross a line beyond which they cannot protect you. Shimoli crossed this line. It started with his return home to lay low and strategize, after a series of bank robberies. Someone mentioned to the police that homeboy was chilling at his 4 bedroom house. At dawn, cops were there with guns drawn. They told his neighbours to stay asleep (like you would SMFH) as they called out for Shimoli to surrender. By the time they had the guts to check the house, he had, somehow, already evaporated.
Luck runs out for everyone. Or maybe everyone gets lucky, if we are looking at it from the perspective of the cops. One of their many traps finally bore fruit and Shimoli found his way to the headlines as he was escorted to the Kiambu Law courts under the watch of 300 officers. Both in uniform and plain clothes. Contrary to their expectations, the man they had chased for so long was soft spoken and polite. He cooperated extensively with the officers. Something he would do every time he got arrested. Even went as far as showing them where he hid guns, denying them any excuse to kill him. His rap sheet by this time would astonish any self-respecting psychopath.
Mr. Edward was charged with fourteen murders, 88 rapes, drug deals and countless robberies. He was found guilty, sentenced to death and sent to Kamĩtĩ Maximum Security Prison. In prison, Shimoli continued surprising everyone. He was quiet and one of the most well-behaved prisoners. The wardens had no reason to antagonize him. What they did not know, is that he watching their every move. He memorized their number, their duty routines, communication, security protocols and conditions. He searched for weaknesses and for things that appealed to them, then started bribingthe guards. Bit by bit, he chipped away at their wall of suspicion and before they knew it, Shimoli handpicked the locks and was on his way out.
The one warden who tried to stop him had a date with his pent-up anger. He was left holding one to a broken leg. Which had almost been chopped off.
A search was mounted, but Shimoli managed to escape into Ruiru forest and rejoined his gang. As a mark of his badassery, Shimoli made casual visits to his home. He was still angry. Someone had betrayed him and they would pay for it.
One day, a neighbour spotted him sharpening his panga. He did not dare ask what it was being prepared for. Two days later, he strolled into Jericho Market and dragged a man away from his lunch. He accused him of betraying him to the police and proceeded to hack him to death in front of everyone. Ili iwe funzo. He also shot the man’s wife in the back. The dead man was his brother in law. Shimoli’s crime spree continued.
The Special Crimes Prevention Unit was assigned his case, but his escapes still piled up. He made a total of four escapes from jail. Seemingly on a single person mission to prove how porous our security system is. One time, he shot and injured two officers who spotted him ina stolen Mercedes in town. They saw him rolling, they hated, patrolling trynna catch him riding dirty. Well, he definitely was riding dirty.
Another time, in the spirit of being extra, he pulled out a blunt in court and started smoking, because, you know, court proceedings can be boring. That stunt earned him an extra year in the sentencing. It also made it into hip hop, being mentioned by the likes of Kitu Sewer. While we are still at the courts, after a particular hearing at the Kibra law courts, Shimoli was escorted to the cells awaiting his transfer.
Somehow, in a manner that no one seemed to have been able to explain, they lost him. Ninja just slipped through their fingers like he wasn’t the most wanted Kenyan Criminal alive. If that sounds familiar, it is probably because you have read about a similar escape in Kiriamiti’s “My Life in Crime”. The police were accused of aiding his escape. To ward off more embarrassment, they mounted a manhunt that was meant to go on, 24 hrs a day, for as long was necessary. It involved multiple security departments who hoped that his friends within the force would not aid him further. And because our police force (sorry, service) has its moments of glory, he was arrested three days later. This time, with an injury.
The 24-hour manhunt turned to round the clock protection as he was taken to Kenyatta National Hospital for treatment. The plan was to take him to Kamĩtĩ after, so a contingent of twenty police officers came through to bolster the escort detail. Nothing can get past such an escort, right? Oh,my sweet summer child. Bullets started raining on them as soon as they got to Uhuru Park.
The Dream Team was the true ride or die crew and they had come to deliver what the park is named after, freedom. By the time the gunshots died down, Shimoli and his people were gone.
They took him to their hideout and got him treatment in hiding. Now the police were panicking. There was absolutely no way of explaining how one person could be so slippery. So, they went after him with everything they had. One time, in a close shave, they shot down three of his accomplices, with Shimoli escaping narrowly.
From then onwards, he ceased his daytime missions and concentrated on working at night. He got multiple identities and tried to be a ghost, but he was just one man against a whole system. The SCPU and Flying Squad were using low ranking criminals to get close to him. He got caught. And this time, they got him locked up properly.
For eight solid years. On March 15 th 2007, his sentence came to an end… And Shimoli, master of jailbreaks refused to leave prison. The authorities basically went, “Screw you. We need more space. Who cares if you had been sentenced to death earlier?” Shimoli’s reason for shying away from freedom was that his life was in danger. He was forced out anyway. Right outside the gates, he spoke to the media for the first time, claiming that he had many stories about the security system and that he would show up and tell all of them.
He moved back to Jericho, still claiming that his life was in danger, and converted to Islam. His new name became Mohamed Shaban Maina. Mohamed Shaban was unlike the old Shimoli. He was religious,prayerful and legit. He ventured into the Taxi business. Everything seemed to have calmed down. About four months in though, on August 26 th 2007, Shimoli disappeared. His luck had finally run out. His ninth life had come to an end at the age of 38. His body would be found later on Kangundo road, hands still tied.
It bore evidence of torture and what had ended him: ten bullets in his body. His family went to identify his body at City Mortuary. And later on, they buried him at Kariakor Muslim Cemetery. Rumours claim that he was snuffed out by police officers who were convinced that he still had loot from his robberies.
They supposedly wanted him to hand it over to them. Is it true? We’ll probably never know. Is it the same cops he meant to mention in his visit to the media? I guess we’ll never know that either. #TooEarlyForBirds
#TEFBadassery Links:
http://owaahh.com/7-most-badass-kenyan-gangsters/
Kenyan 'Jackal' tracked down | World news | The Guardian
These men’s criminal activities soured an otherwise calm Kenyan existence | Nation
http://www.nation.co.ke/news/1056-205088-lvb3v2z/index.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTHMaWhlMoc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhzBG8eA-24
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7TjJOUlnT4
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