POLICE in Dar es Salaam are holding two suspects in an armed robbery which saw 67.7m/- stolen from a businessman at the junction of Azikiwe and Maktaba streets on Thursday morning.

Ilala Regional Police Commander (RPC), Ms Marietha Minangi, told the 'Daily News' that the businessman of Asian origin, Mr Zitin Pandya (40), was going to the bank to deposit the money. "We are holding Mr Pandya's driver and a watchman at his office.

We suspect that it was an inside job because the robbers could not just have guessed that at that particular time and day the businessman was taking the money to the bank," she said. She named the two suspects as Celestine Kazimbi (40), who is a watchman at ACE Agency and Juma Mkali (48), the driver who was taking Mr Pandya to the bank when the incident occurred.

According to an eyewitness, three suspects were seen fleeing from the scene of the incident on motorcycles that were parked near Holiday Inn Hotel after the robbery which took less than a minute. "The suspects disembarked from a vehicle in a traffic jam before taking the money from the businessman at gun point," said the eyewitness who preferred anonymity.

She said the suspects seemed to have been tailing the businessman's car and they took advantage of the congestion to commit the crime, saying the three motorcycles were ready for their escape.

Meanwhile, the National Bank of Commerce (NBC) has said it is working closely with the police, Fire and Rescue Brigade and Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) to establish the cause of the fire at the bank's Chang'ombe branch in Temeke municipality in Dar es Salaam yesterday. A press statement issued by the bank said the branch which caught fire early yesterday will remain closed until further notice.