An rise in car break-ins in Nairobi has alarmed the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
The directorate claimed in a statement on Thursday, February 16, 2023, that the criminals responsible for the recent incidents wait in bank lobbys for unwary consumers making large purchases before following them and breaking into their cars to steal the customers’ hard-earned money.
In one one the incidences, four suspects were detained last week after robbing a city businessman of Ksh50,000 while he was inside his parked car at South C’s Rumi estate.
As police acquired CCTV footage from a faraway building that had captured the incident on February 3, they detained the suspects, Fabian Ochieng Ndubi, Fredrick Wanyingi, Kevin Adote Onyango, and Phil Scolten Ali.
The victim of the theft reportedly stopped his Mercedes Benz at the Equity Bank Nairobi West Branch at around 2:30 pm and withdrew Ksh350,000 intended for paying his workers at a construction site, according to the DCI.
Unknown to him and the bank security, inside was a man posing as he was filling out account opening paperwork while sneakily scanning the withdrawal counters for any unusually large transactions.
“At the parking yard in a white Mazda Demio were his three accomplices, awaiting his signal for whoever their target would be,” DCI said.
The Mazda Demio with the fake registration number KDC 906L followed the victim as he drove away from the bank. It parked a safe distance away from their intended victim as she exited the vehicle and made her way to the construction site.
Another suspect, armed with a catapult and a spark plug, moved toward the driver’s window as the other suspect kept an eye on the victim’s movements. The getaway driver was the third person.
The culprit is alleged to have used the catapult to smash the driver’s window, steal Ksh50,000, and then signal his accomplice to get in the vehicle. Fortunately, the victim had paid his employees with the bigger sum of Ksh300,000.
The distressed victim then filed a report at the Akila Police station, explaining his situation but having no idea who the possible offenders might be.
“With the possibility of a distant CCTV camera having captured some images, police at Akila escalated the case to DCI Headquarters,” DCI said, adding that detectives swung into action immediately in pursuit of the perpetrators.
Forensic analysts at the Imaging & Acoustic Unit retrieved CCTV footage from both scenes, identifying one of the suspects who acted as lead to his accomplices.
“By Friday, 10th February, the entire syndicate had been nabbed and two motor vehicles (KDD 515Q Mazda Demio and a KCE 107Y Toyota Belta) used in trailing victims detained,” DCI disclosed.
According to the police, a search in the cars saw the recovery of the suspects’ tools of the trade that included a catapult and nine spark plugs.
The suspects have since been arraigned at Kibera Law Courts where they pleaded not guilty to three counts: Conspiracy to commit a felony contrary to section 393 of the penal code; Stealing from a locked motor vehicle contrary to section 279(g) of the penal code; and malicious injury to property contrary to section 339 of the penal code.
