@Alicewangechi
Police officers in Kiambu county have arrested a security
guard stationed at a popular garage in Limuru over suspicion of abetting
attempted theft of four trucks.
The guard was arrested on Thursday night after police received
information about suspicious activities going on in the garage located in
Kwambira town.
According to Kamirithu Jua Kali chairman Peter Ndung’u, a
boda boda rider who left his motorcycle at the garage walked into the premises
at 2 am to pick up his motorcycle.
The operator is hired by traders to pick meat from a
slaughterhouse early in the morning.
The operator was surprised to find a group of suspicious
men in the garage who had already vandalized some of the trucks packed in the
facility.
“When his third sense told him something was wrong, he
retreated and ran away as they called after him. He informed the police
who arrived a few moments later but the men had fled,” he said.
Ndung’u said the criminals are suspected to have accessed
the garage around 9 pm and were vandalizing vehicles up to 2 am when they were
found out.
“They had ample time to do what they had planned to do and that’s why we are suspecting that they had help from insiders."
He confirmed that the thieves had identified four new trucks
and had vandalized their door and steering wheel locks.
They then siphoned fuel from some of the older trucks that
were filled into the new trucks ready for movement.
Had they succeeded, Ndung’u said truck owners would have
accrued cumulative losses of up to Sh17 million.
Assorted items thought to have been used in vandalizing the
trucks were recovered at the scene.
Confirming the incident, Limuru Sub County Police Commander
Mary Gachii said they are in pursuit of the suspects and that the security
guard is helping in the investigations.
Veronica Wanjiku, a trader, lauded the police for their
quick response saying it thwarted the theft that would have left traders reeling
in losses.
“My appeal is that they increase their patrols at night to discourage
criminals from engaging in criminal activities because this is not the first
time such a thing has happened in Kwambira,” she said.
Peter Ndung’u said the vandalism perpetrated must have taken
between four to five hours and wondered how that was possible yet the garage
was guarded.
“They knew how to open the vehicles. They knew where the
cut-out buttons and trackers were and were able to deactivate them. They were
ready to leave with them when they were found,” he said.
Peter Kariuki, another trader, said when they arrived at the
garage, one of the new FRR trucks had been moved from its parking spot.
“They wanted to steal the four trucks. We assume they were
four and each planned to drive away with a truck”.
Ends