Police in Thika have arrested a middle-aged man with vandalized electricity equipment including 140 litres of transformer oil and copper windings.
The 27-year-old, was nabbed on Saturday evening at their home in Kimuchu village following a tip-off from members of the public who alerted the cops over suspicious activities in the homestead.
Thika West Sub-county Criminal Investigations Officer Jacinta Mbaika told journalists that a tuk-tuk suspected to be used to ferry the vandalized cache was also seized.
“The suspect disclosed that the pieces of equipment were brought to the home about three days ago and already some of the copper windings had been moved to an unknown location. From the amount of transformer oil we have recovered, it seems that seven transformers have been vandalized,” Mbaika said.
The police boss noted that there’s a wider cartel of vandals operating in Thika and its environs adding that police are working round the clock to dismantle the cartel and bring them to book.
“There’s a wider vandalism cartel perpetrating their crimes in this region but their days are numbered. We are calling on members of the public to partner with us by providing crucial information that will lead to the arrest and prosecution of these criminals,” she said.
She noted that they intend to use an intelligence-based operation to nab criminals who engage in vandalism activities.
Last month the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) announced its partnership with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to tackle the vandalism menace.
This is after a 46 per cent increase in transformer vandalism was recorded this year. Some 242 transformers were affected compared to 165 units last year.
"We are confident that the partnership with the DCI will boost our capacity to proactively fight vandalism and other crimes through an intelligence-led approach," Kenya Power’s Managing Director & CEO Joseph Siror said in a statement.
According to Kenya Power, of the 1,026 people arrested and prosecuted for various illegal activities within the electricity network since July 2022,472 cases relate to vandalism, theft of energy equipment and damage to energy infrastructure.
Illegal connections and fraudulent consumption of electricity account for 320 while 33 people were arrested for wayleave encroachment.
