A man who claimed to be a reformed pickpocket has disclosed what he did to make his hands lighter so that victims would not realise his hands in their pockets, as well as how much he made from the criminal activity.
Identified only as Moha, the Kenyan man was reportedly a notorious pickpocket in Nairobi’s CBD area before he decided to change, saying the money he got from the crime was cursed.
In an interview with Edmac Media on YouTube, he recounted that he was a matatu conductor (a driver’s mate) before he decided to venture into pickpocketing, which was more lucrative, although criminal and risky.
“I never called out the fare when passengers boarded. As other vehicles charged KSh 30, I would charge KSh 50.
“A friend introduced me to pickpocketing by encouraging me to carry a five-litre jerrican to make his hand lighter. When I put my hand in your pocket, you won’t feel it,” Moha revealed.
According to him, the result of the first day of the crime heightened his interest and he made a lot of money.
“The first phone I stole was Samsung S6 when it was released. I took it to a broker and got KSh 40,000. It was a sweet deal compared to the KSh 1,000 I made as a conductor,” he disclosed.
As to how he went about the criminal act, he said that he and his co-criminals worked with a syndicate, which made it easy to steal from unsuspecting victims successfully.
“I would steal phones through matatu windows and disappear in traffic. We also worked with women of the night to steal from their clients.”
Meanwhile, just like every endeavour, pickpocketing also has some hazards, and Moha fell victim to some of those risks at some points. On two occasions, he was arrested in the act and beaten to a pulp by mobs.
“In one instance, I got caught after stealing from a woman on a boda boda. The riders descended on me, and I was in a seven-day coma.
“Before the incident, my mum only heard rumours that I was a pickpocket. She started hating me,” he recalled.
