Woman robbed Sh500,000 after bank withdrawal in Kirinyaga

A businesswoman was Monday robbed of Sh500,000 moments after she had withdrawn the cash from a bank in Kerugoya town, Kirinyaga.

The incident happened at about midday moments after she had withdrawn the cash for her use at home in the same area.

She told police while on the way home and a few meters from her homestead, she heard someone calling her.

She was then holding the cash in her handbag and when she stopped to check who was calling her, she was confronted by an unknown person who pointed a small gun at her.

She said the man snatched her handbag containing the cash, identification cards, home keys, a piece of lesso, ATM cards, spectacles, and a mobile phone.

She raised an alarm but no help came.

The gunman jumped onto a waiting car which sped off towards Karatina town with another unknown number of occupants, police said.

A hunt was launched in vain. No arrest has been made.

This is the latest such incident where people are confronted and robbed of cash moments after visiting banks.

On August 1, a businessman was trailed and robbed of Sh1.7 million in Syokimau.

The businessman told police he had on August 1 withdrawn the cash from the bank and driven to his Syokimau where the robbery took place.

The gang broke into his car and grabbed the cash from the boot where he had parked it at an apartment.

The daring gang trailed the man for almost five kilometres to his Syokimau area where they waited for the businessman to get into his house and later broke into the car and grabbed the cash.

According to the victim, the gang even went to the apartment and pretended to be on other missions as their accomplices broke into the car where he had left the cash.

The drama was captured on security cameras in the bank and the apartment where the incident took place.

He told police he had been to a bank along Mombasa Road where waited to withdraw money for a project he was working on.

At the banking hall, one of the suspects captured on CCTV cameras in Syokimau was also queuing waiting to be “served”.

But when his time came to be served he excused himself and left the banking hall as the victim was also being served.

As the victim carried the cash and placed it in a safe in the boot of the car, the suspects were monitoring him.

They then trailed him from the parking lot to Syokimau where they grabbed the cash.

Police are investigating the latest incidents, with preliminary investigations revealing that it could have been an inside job.

Police have warned the public against carrying large sums of money.