Africa’s youngest billionaire kidnapped outside hotel gym in Tanzania
Team Udayavani, Oct 12, 2018, 9:43 AM IST
Tanzania: Africa’s youngest billionaire was kidnapped on Thursday by gunmen in Tanzania’s economic capital Dar es Salaam, officials said.
Mohammed Dewji, 43, who heads the MeTL Group which operates in about 10 countries with interests in agriculture to insurance, transport, logistics and the food industry, was kidnapped as he entered the gym of a hotel in the city.
“Initial information indicates he was kidnapped by whites travelling in two vehicles,” regional governor Paul Makonda told journalists, adding that “this kind of incident is new here”.
Dar es Salaam police chief Lazaro Mambosasa also implicated foreigners in the crime, telling a press conference the assailants had “shot into the air” before bustling Dewji into their car.
He said police were hunting for suspects and had already made arrests.
Dewji was born in Tanzania and studied at Georgetown University in the United States. He also served as a member of parliament from 2005 to 2015.
In 2013 he became the first Tanzanian to grace the cover of Forbes magazine, and was in 2015 named Forbes Africa Person of the Year.
Dewji is also the main shareholder in Tanzania’s Simba FC football club.
According to Forbes he is 17th on the list of Africa’s billionaires, and worth $1.5 billion (1.29 billion euros).
Dewji is married with three children. In 2016 he signed a pledge to donate at least half of his fortune to philanthropic causes, according to Forbes.
Udayavani is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest news.
Top News
Related Articles More
COP29: Three days in, countries still waiting for ‘workable’ climate finance draft
Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy to lead Department of Government Efficiency: Trump
COP29: UN climate chief calls for urgent climate action to counter economic fallout, inflation
35 killed, 43 injured as driver hits crowd in Chinese city
UN climate summit runs into agenda fight on first day
MUST WATCH
Latest Additions
Centre requests HC to direct Karnataka govt to vacate madrasa in Srirangapatna Jama Masjid
CJI Khanna comes out with fresh roster on allocation of cases, first 3 benches to hear PILs
ED launches fresh raids against ‘lottery king’ Santiago Martin
USD 1 trillion a year needed for developing nations by 2030: High-Level Group on Climate Finance
Surya gave me an opportunity to bat at No 3, wanted to repay his faith: Tilak Varma
Thanks for visiting Udayavani
You seem to have an Ad Blocker on.
To continue reading, please turn it off or whitelist Udayavani.