Armed men in Subaru rob Nairobi businessman Sh1.5 million in Utawala

A Nairobi businessman was on Tuesday at pains to explain to his employees why he could not pay them after he was robbed of Sh1.5 million meant to pay them soon after withdrawing the cash at a bank in Donholm estate.

The businessman told police that while driving from Mihang’o in Utawala, occupants of another car blocked his vehicle and ordered him to surrender the cash, which had been stashed in envelopes.

“The robbers, three in number, were armed with rifles. They took the cash and sped towards Eastern Bypass in a Subaru,” he said in his police report filed at the Embakasi Police Station.

The businessman was alone in his double-cabin vehicle during the afternoon incident. The businessman, who escaped unhurt, said he did not manage to capture the registration plate of the robbers’ vehicle, saying that “things happened so fast.”

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations detectives in Embakasi said a manhunt has been launched for the suspects.

The incident comes just days after a Member of Parliament (MP) was carjacked and robbed of Sh700,000 and other valuables in Nairobi. Ol Kalou MP David Kiaraho was robbed of the cash on Sunday night around 2am as he was driving home from an entertainment joint.

According to a report he filed at Karen Police Station, the MP was waylaid at gunpoint by an armed robber who ordered him to lower the window of the vehicle at the junction of James Gichuru road and Waiyaki Way.

Within minutes, the lone gunman was joined by two accomplices who forcefully got into the vehicle and commanded him to drive to Muthiga area within Kikuyu. In the report, the MP said the trio then blindfolded him and took control of the vehicle, demanding that the MP gives them his ATM and cash.

Last year, detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) warned Nairobi residents to be careful whenever they are driving at night because of rising cases of carjacking in and around the capital.