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Armed gangsters escape with millions of shillings from Unaitas Sacco in Murang’a


Police are investigating an incident which a four-man gang reportedly got away with millions of shillings after breaking into Unaitas Sacco branch in Murang’a County on Saturday morning.

The gang, according to the police, also got away with a loaded rifle which they robbed a police officer manning the premises. Police said the armed robbers forcibly accessed the facility by attacking a policeman manning the bank.

“Two men, wearing black private security uniforms with reflectors pretending to be hawkers, approached the officers and started wrestling both of them. They were joined by other four thugs, two armed with AK-47 rifles, while the other two were armed with crude weapons,” the police said.

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According to the police the thugs shot on the ground near one of the officers’ legs but the officer managed to pull out his G3 rifle magazine loaded with 20 ammunitions and threw it to a nearby bush.

The sacco said the gangsters made away with between Sh3.5 million and Sh5 million. However, the sacco has not completed reconciliation to ascertain the exact amount of money stolen.

Preliminary reports filed through Kigumo Sub County security committee indicated that about three or four gunshots were fired by the gangsters in  what the police described as a coordinated, precise and smooth operation. Police said the thugs fled using  two motorcycles.

The incident comes a few days after another gang attacked two police officers who were manning a roadblock and disarmed one of them.

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During the incident that happened on February 25, the gang accosted the two police officers near Njora Secondary School gates and disarmed them of a loaded AK47 rifle, which is yet to be recovered.

In 2020, Unaitas Sacco assured its customers that it was aware of claims of an alleged data breach in one of its systems while terming the claims as a misinformation by extortionists.

The Sacco dropped plans to convert into a bank, citing a Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) moratorium order as well as the need to grow further, despite saying that it had invested in processes and systems to meet banking requirements. The sacco had initially set 2018 as the deadline of converting into a bank.

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