DCI arrests six in Kawangware over Southern Bypass robberies

Detectives have arrested six people suspected of violently robbing motorists and pedestrians on the Southern Bypass in Nairobi.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Wednesday said its detectives used cyber and forensic analysis to track down the suspects at their hideout in Nairobi’s Kawangware area.

They recovered 112 assorted phones suspected to have been stolen.

“One victim who had previously been attacked by the vicious gang along the highway managed to identify her phone,” the DCI said.

The DCI identified those arrested as Messi Martha Mutioka, Tevin Njuguna, Edward Baraza Shikoba, Lawrence Gitahi Ndirangu, Kenneth Maina Chege and David Lugali Asianja. They are aged between 21 and 32.

Some 15 suspects have been seized in connection with the Southern Bypass robberies, police said.

The DCI asked people who have been robbed of their valuables including mobile phones to visit their offices at the Lang’ata Police Station to identify them.

Last month, the DCI arrested six suspects after a motorist made a report that he had been attacked and violently robbed of his valuables.

The victim, Tom Onyango, had stopped on the side of the highway to let his son answer the call of nature.

Sspate of robberies on the busy road

“Tom Onyango and his three-year-old son were driving from Nakuru to Nairobi when they were accosted by the thugs a few metres past the virtual weighbridge,” a statement from the DCI said.

After Mr Onyango made his report at the Lang’ata Police Station, officers were deployed to flush out the suspects, who had taken cover in the nearby forest.

Police arrested six suspects, three of whom were positively identified by the victim and his son as those who had attacked them.

A week later, detectives arrested three more suspects, among them a secondary school student, in connection with the spate of robberies on the busy road.

The three were arrested in Kibra, Nairobi. A 16-year-old Lang’ata Secondary School student, Bonface Winjira, 30, and Alex Mboya, 35, were arrested at a mobile phone shop in Lindi, Kibra.

More than 100 stolen phones were recovered in that raid.

The arrests also came days after police officers who had disguised themselves as joggers shot dead two suspects who attempted to mug them on the highway.

The robbers are said to be targeting motorists who pull over on the side of the highway when their vehicles break down.