’40 Brothers’ gang behind city crime wave
Bank tellers are colluding with armed thugs to rob clients, police have said. They arrived at the conclusion after investigations showed most attacks were targeted at people who had just withdrawn huge amounts.
“Investigations into several cases have led us to believe that the thugs could have contact persons working as tellers in banks,” said County Police boss Benson Kibue.
He added: “Some of the people we have arrested have admitted collusion with bank staff, while in some cases the CCTV footage proved that the only people who could have known the amounts withdrawn were the bank tellers.”
Rising cases
Mr Kibue was referring to the rising cases of robbery involving attacks or even kidnappings of bank clients after withdrawing large amounts.
Earlier this month, police shot dead two suspected gangsters who had been trailing a woman after she withdrew over Sh300,000 from a bank on Moi Avenue.
Inspector General David Kimaiyo said they had been working closely with other security forces, including the National Intelligence Service to unravel rising crime.
“Most of these gangs are known. They just move from one area to another when security is heightened wherever they were. They simply try to exploit security lapses in their new areas. We have a list of gangs we are pursuing, so you can expect several arrests in the coming days,” he said.
Cases of armed robbery have been on the rise around Moi Avenue, Kenyatta Avenue and Biashara Street. The three streets are home to over 55 banks and ATMs, making the area lucrative for the criminals.
The gangs attack their targets even in broad daylight, without fearing the police or being spotted by the public.
One gang in particular, known as 40 Brothers, is known to commit most crimes in the city centre.
Police believe the gang is responsible for over 10 cases in the past few months. Mr Kimaiyo, however, did not confirm whether the two suspects killed on Kimathi Street on Tuesday were members of the gang.
“We are still investigating the matter, but we had been trailing the two for a while,” he added.
The 40 Brothers gang has been in existence for close to a year now. They operate in groups of 10, and seem to know whenever a victim has withdrawn a large amount of money.