DCI launches hunt for thugs caught on viral CCTV footage
Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have launched a manhunt for thugs who were caught on CCTV breaking and stealing from a car in the city.
While raising the alarm, DCI said there was a new wave of crime in Nairobi involving a gang of four men targeting unsuspecting bank customers who withdraw cash in bulk and that they were behind the series of car break-ins and thefts in Nairobi.
DCI Director Mohamed Amin said the gang operated well-coordinatedly, with one member posing as a customer in the bank halls, identifying targets, and then signaling to accomplices waiting in the car park.
“Using a hired vehicle with false registration numbers, they follow their targets to a chosen location before striking in any way they can, as long as they can steal the money,” the DCI said.
In one such incident, the detectives based at Langata police station have launched investigations after suspected thugs were captured on surveillance cameras breaking into a car in Nairobi West, where they stole cash and valuables worth thousands on Saturday, October 14, 2023.
A CCTV footage shared on social media by the DCI on Monday, October 16, shows the gang using a white car allegedly using fake number plates to cover their tracks parking next to the victim’s car shortly after he left to buy some items at a local supermarket.
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A few minutes later, two men emerge from the vehicle. One tries to force the door of the victim’s car open as another keeps watch while appearing to talk to someone on the phone.
They manage to access the car and steal some items before driving off while the owner is still in the supermarket.
In another incident in Parklands, also captured on CCTV on October 7, DCI said that a man lost Sh1.5 million after the criminals broke into his car he had left in the parking area to pick up something from a nearby shop.
“The gang targeted a client at Parklands as he walked out of DTB Bank housed at Diamond Plaza. The man would only return a short moment later to find himself poorer than he had left home,” said the DCI.
According to Amin, the gang in Parklands was using a Nissan Note bearing fake registration numbers.
The DCI boss released photos of the car and images of two of the criminals and sought the public’s help in identifying them.
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