Bolt responds to kidnapping incident of two girls; always check driver’s details
Hailing company, Bolt, has called for vigilance of all riders after a suspected abduction of two girls linked to one of its drivers.
In a statement on Tuesday, Bolt urged all customers to always confirm that the driver and car registration details during their pickup match those on the app.
Its statement comes days after media personality Ciku Muiruri announced that her daughter and her friend were kidnapped after hailing a Bolt Taxi.
“We are aware of the recent safety incident and deeply appreciate the local authorities’ efforts to ensure that the two young girls were found and safely reunited with their families. We proactively collaborated with the authorities to provide pertinent information regarding this case that supported the conclusion of this investigation,” Bolt said in its statement.
Ciku said that the two girls were found in an empty bedsitter in Gatokoyo where they have been held for a week.
“They had been kidnapped in the early hours of Sunday morning after hailing a Bolt Taxi. They were locked in the car (doors had child lock activated) and there was a second man hiding in the boot. Attempts to fight them led to Erica being hit on her head and lower leg with a hammer but she did not sustain serious injury. Her friend had cuts on her hand from trying to pull a knife that had been held to her throat by the man in the back,” she said.
The kidnappers had allegedly asked for KES 500,000 for both girls.
…”We prayed for protection. They did not lay a finger on the girls. Please note for your own protection that they told the girls that the Bolt App has many crooks from different gangs doing the exact same thing! He told them: “Stay away from Bolt, especially after midnight,” Ciku said in a post on social media.
Bolt has asked its drivers to avoid the use of vehicles that do not match the details on the platform, as that was one of the issues that led to the kidnapping incident.
“To address this, we show riders the driver and car verification details when they request a ride. We immediately block drivers that exhibit such behavior. We also introduced the driver selfie check feature on the platform to enhance safety and prevent driver impersonation and account sharing.”