Reports monitored from the Senegalese daily newspaper Le Quotidien (Saturday, 14 March 2009) have indicated that Dakar is being hit by a crime wave that has left its inhabitants fearing for their lives.

A state of fear that reahed crescendo on Friday, after the macabre discovery of a woman who had been chopped into 7 pieces at Koussoum beach side in the Senegalese capital city. "We have never witnessed such a crime in police history," said a police officer shocked by the violence of the act.

According to Le Quotidien, this terrific and sad event has prompted the police to establish a linkage with ritual crime. Investigations are underway to lift a corner of the veil in a crime that continues to be the main subject of discussions in some Grand’Places (Bantabas) in Dakar.

This is not the first time that the West African state has been shaken by a surge of violent crime. One year back, the bodies of two foreign exchange dealers, who were horribly killed, were discovered in a car parked around Liberte 6.