ATLANTA – Singer-rapper — and ‘real-life Wakanda,’ mastermind — Akon had his SUV stolen while he was fueling up the vehicle at a gas station in Atlanta on Tuesday night, according to reports.
“It only takes a second for someone to jump into your vehicle and take off,” reps for the Atlanta Police Department told reporters of the high-profile theft, which occurred just after midnight at the QuikTrip facility in Buckhead.
Police report that Akon, 48, was pumping gas on the passenger side of his Range Rover when someone reportedly jumped into the running automobile and sped away. Fortunately, the ‘Don’t Matter’ artist wasn’t injured during the ordeal.
The celebrity car theft comes a day after Atlanta City Councilwoman Natalyn Archibong proposed that all city gas stations should equip all their pumps with continuous security cameras to deter auto theft. Petrol purveyors would also need to install an emergency backup camera system, per the proposed legislation.
“It [grand theft auto] is a common occurrence. It is not an anomaly,” said the lawmaker. “It is a significant enough crime and a consistent enough crime that it warrants this intervention.”
In light of the shocking crime, police are reminding drivers not to leave their vehicles running while pumping in gas.
It seems as a case of what goes around comes around. Akon — whose real name is Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam — infamously claimed throughout the early 2000s that he spent four years in jail for his lead role in a notorious carjacking ring that specialised in stealing luxury vehicles.
The “Locked Up” singer’s outlandish rap sheet has since been debunked — but the con artist was reportedly arrested in 1998 for stealing a BMW, according to court docs posted on the Smoking Gun.
The American rapper of Senegalese origin, whose net worth is $80 million, announced recently that he would construct of City in Uganda – a second on the African continent.
This new futuristic and sustainable city project comes at a time when Akon City in Senegal has entered its construction phase at a cost of $6 billion.
The Ugandan government, through its Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development promised and allocated 260-hectares of land – available for the construction of this futuristic city.
