In November 2022, the brazen theft of internet connectivity devices was brought to our attention.
On the theft syndicate, staff of Internet Service Provider Poa! Internet.
Victims believed that Poa! Internet staff were responsible for stealing receivers a few days or weeks after installing them.
The market for resell is booming.
On Monday, a Twitter user Rufas Kamau (@RufasKe) ignited the debate; Kenyans on Twitter (KoT) joined in.
“We need a special task force that deals with thieves of internet connectivity devices in Kenya. @DCI_Kenya hizi devices zinaenda kuenda,” he wrote.
He added, “If you know of a person who have lost such a device, or you have lost one yourself, kindly retweet until it reaches the DCI. Let's repair this nation”
Other users joined in, sharing their experiences over the same.
“We put one on some special needs schools in Nairobi (as a CSR) and one school had their devices stolen 3 times. Very, very sad,” Ben Roberts, the CTO of Liquid Intelligent Technologies revealed.
“I wonder what’s driving theft of these P2P devices. Would you have an idea?,” @KiloFXTrot pondered.
Rufas replied that the theft is primarily driven by High demand, Lack of action from police, Dirty competition from Fiber optic ISPs and High unemployment rate.
But perhaps the most notorious one is from the technicians of ISP Poa! Internet.
https://nyakundireport.com/poa-internet-technicians-accused-of-stealing-receivers-for-resell/
“I lost mine (installed by Poa Internet) last month. This is their response when I contacted them. I immediately smelt a rat. It could be an inside job,”
One would think that the gadget fetches a lot in the black market.
“Enda Korogocho you'll find yours. They're resold at a meagre 500 Bob,” @CoinsMinister revealed.
It seems there’s a consensus that the devices are stolen by Staff/ technicians of the ISPs. More complaints https://twitter.com/Daoodey/status/1625183965362503705?s=20&t=8JSNJkzoItXalAdL7-BVbg Anti-theft mechanism https://twitter.com/rigo1_2/status/1625225073459093504?s=20&t=8JSNJkzoItXalAdL7-BVbg
https://twitter.com/MachiraKrieger/status/1625165257495683072?s=20&t=8JSNJkzoItXalAdL7-BVbg Police inaction https://twitter.com/bonifacemutiso/status/1625198171784724486?s=20&t=8JSNJkzoItXalAdL7-BVbg Arrested by citizens https://twitter.com/kamaltwaha/status/1625196247249260545?s=20&t=8JSNJkzoItXalAdL7-BVbg
https://twitter.com/LeKibet/status/1625155849755799558?s=20&t=8JSNJkzoItXalAdL7-BVbg Verdict https://twitter.com/Mrkapchanga/status/1625195869640265732?s=20&t=8JSNJkzoItXalAdL7-BVbg