Africa’s youngest billionaire Mohammed Dewji snatched by gunmen in Tanzania
Industrialist was arriving at a plush hotel for his morning workout when two armed ‘foreigners’ grabbed him
A Tanzanian businessman and former member of parliament for the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party (CCM) was seized by unidentified men in Dar es Salaam on Thursday, the regional commissioner said.
Mohammed Dewji, owner and president of the multibillion-dollar revenue Mohammed Enterprises Tanzania Ltd (MeTL Group), was abducted after he arrived for a morning workout at a luxury hotel in the country’s commercial capital.
Dewji is Africa’s youngest billionaire.
Dar es Salaam regional commissioner Paul Makonda said the businessman was kidnapped by two men as he entered the hotel.
“They fired a gun and then they opened the gate,” Makonda said, adding that security personnel were searching for Dewji.
The armed men were foreigners, the Swahili Times reported on Twitter, citing Police Commander Lazaro Mambosasa.
Witnesses, including the guards manning the gate at the hotel, were being questioned, he said.