His advice to members of public is; avoid shaking hands with strangers at any cost, specifically if you have just come from an ATM or bank.
“You must be suspicious of anything and everything,” he advises. “Anything around that area assumes it’s an ATM or a bank must be suspicious.”
Try to use your sixth sense, Thuta suggests, when confronted with such a situation.
How to react, he says will largely depend with the environment one is, since it can turn dangerous at times.
“Don’t accept things at face value since at times, things are different from what they appear to be. You must be suspicious.”
In case one is already in such a situation, the security expert says one may chose to cooperate, run away or even shout.
“This calls for fast thinking…it depends with the environment you are in,” Thuta says. “One should always think in a probabilistic manner; yes I have withdrawn money from an ATM, suppose opposite the ATM they are people waiting for me, what will I do?”
They are sentiments police share.
“The moment you extend your handshake, it means you have to talk to them whether you are willing or not,” a detective based within Nairobi Central Business District and cannot be named due to the nature of his job cautions.
Looks can be deceiving, and if you judge a person rightly only for them to turn against you, the detective also advises that you can either shout, cooperate or alternatively talk in a manner likely to attract attention.
“The city thugs, mostly those targeting ordinary Kenyans going about their businesses will never want to attract attention. They want to create a friendly picture within the surrounding,” he points out.
According to police, such cases have drastically dropped due to increased surveillance and police presence, but the threat is not fully eliminated.
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