Four arrested in motorcycle theft syndicate bust in Eldoret
Motorcycles belonging to boda boda operators parked outside Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi in July 2022. Police arrested four suspects and recovered more than 50 dismantled motorcycles in Eldoret over the weekend.
What you need to know:
- At the Eldoret Central police station, victims of stolen motorcycles have already started identifying them at the station.
- They include Joseph Okai, who lost his motorcycle a month ago in Kogwas estate, at around 1pm. He was having lunch after parking it outside his gate. At the station, he identified a mudguard and an exhaust pipe from his stolen motorcycle, which was fixed to another motorbike.
Detectives have busted a motorcycle theft syndicate operating between Eldoret town and neighboring counties of Western Kenya.
Police arrested four suspects and recovered more than 50 dismantled motorcycles over the weekend.
According to police, the suspects have connections with certain motorcycle dealers who help them forge documents for the stolen bikes.
The four suspects were arrested by police following a tip-off from members of the public in an operation led by Eldoret Central OCS Naftali Muthu, which saw the recovery of 59 motorcycles at a garage in Kapsoya estate and many motorcycle spare parts.
Police suspect that some of the motorbikes seem to have been stolen from neighboring Trans Nzoia, Bungoma, Nandi, and Kakamega counties.
According to Uasin Gishu County Police Commander, Benjamin Mwanthi, officers involved in the operation recovered the stolen motorcycles, whose parts had been switched to create confusion when tracking.
Police also recovered 35 dismantled engines during an operation at the garage in Kapsoya estate in Eldoret town.
“We have been monitoring the motorcycle theft syndicate. This weekend we had a breakthrough following a tip-off from members of the public and we managed to arrest four key suspects after recovering 59 motorbikes,” said the county administrator.
During the weekend raid, police raided suspected houses in Kapsoya and Jerusalem estates where they found several motorcycles suspected to be stolen.
“Following a tip-off we proceeded to a house in Kapsoya estate where a large number of the motorcycles assembled in our station were recovered,” said Mr Mwanthi.
County DCI boss Daniel Muleli revealed that the suspects tampered with the motorcycle engines and swapped spare parts to conceal the identification of the stolen motorcycles.
“The suspects in this syndicate have been erasing engine numbers and printing fake ones after which they dismantle the motorbikes before reassembling them,” he said.
Police are now calling upon members of the public whose bikes have been stolen to present themselves at Eldoret police station with documents to identify them.
“We urge those who may have been victims of the syndicate to visit the Eldoret central police station to help identify some of the recovered motorcycles and engines,” Mr Mwanthi appealed.
At the Eldoret Central police station, victims of stolen motorcycles have already started identifying them at the station.
They include Joseph Okai, who lost his motorcycle a month ago in Kogwas estate, at around 1pm. He was having lunch after parking it outside his gate. At the station, he identified a mudguard and an exhaust pipe from his stolen motorcycle, which was fixed to another motorbike.
Another victim, John Mwaura, lost his motorcycle at Munyaka estate a week ago and identified its parts fixed to another. A rider said most of the motorcycles were stolen at night while parked while other riders were robbed while at work.
Detectives have expressed hope of arresting more suspects involved in the syndicate. Speaking at Eldoret Central police station, Mr Muleli hailed the public for providing police with information that led to the unraveling of the syndicate.
“We urge members of the public to continue revealing our officers’ information to help deal with criminals in the society,” said Mr Muleli.
