Suspected vandals arrested for damaging Kenya Power equipment
By Nyaboga KiageA multi-agency team on Sunday night arrested two people who are accused of vandalizing equipment belonging to the Kenya Power Company.
According to the police, the two suspects, a female and a male, aged 46 and 26 respectively, were arrested within the premises of Busman Investments Limited in Kitengela, Kajiado County. The company deals with scrap metals.
The police said the arrest of the two was as a result of an on-going operation targeting vandals of electricity infrastructure.
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“They were arrested after they were found in possession of three phase service line drop cables, fuses, transformer switches, aluminum conductors among other equipment believed to have been vandalized,” the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said a statement.
Last week, a suspected vandal was arrested in Machakos County by a multi-agency team consisting of police officers, detectives from DCI and officials from Kenya Power Company.
The DCI said the suspect was arrested during a crackdown on a syndicate that has been vandalizing electricity transformers, cables and other electricity equipment in the country. Five sacks of vandalized aluminum wires were recovered from the suspect.
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Police believe the arrested suspect is the ringleader of the syndicate which has been targeting property belonging to Kenya Power Company in Machakos County.
According to police records, Kenya Power has recorded more than 220 incidents of vandalism across the country especially in the counties of Nairobi, Kiambu, Machakos and Nakuru.
The company says it has been incurring losses running into millions of shillings as a result of vandalism. The company also says vandalism has in the past been the cause of frequent power blackouts in several parts of the country.
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