Nairobi News

An administration police officer who allegedly arrested two businessmen and robbed them of $21,000 (Sh2,856,000) while claiming to be a detective from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has been charged with robbery with violence contrary to section 296 (2) of the penal code.

Mr Geoffrey Kyalo Mwangangi is accused of robbing Mohammed Sheikh and Shafe Omar Ahmed of the money between Lalucia apartment in Kileleshwa where he arrested them and Kiambu road near DCI headquarters in Nairobi on April 9, 2023.

Mr Mwangangi, who is attached to Critical Infrastructure Protection Unit (CIPU) at Nyayo House, is accused of committing the offence jointly with others, including a Kenya Prisons Service officer based at the Langata Women’s Prison who has also been arrested by the DCI.

The accused person arrested the two men at an apartment in Kileleshwa where they had been invited for a business deal by a man who turned out to be the police officer’s accomplice in the alleged robbery.

Mr Mangangi is accused of threatening to use violence on the complainants during the alleged robbery.

He is also accused of possession of papers of forgery intended to resemble US dollars after he was allegedly found with the papers kept in a cash safe in his car at the time of his arrest along Kiambu road.

The two complainants, who run a forex exchange bureau in Eastleigh, were approached by a businessman with an offer of currency exchange. They met him in Nairobi city centre where he informed them that he had colleagues who would facilitate the deal.

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The businessman, who is being sought by the DCI as an accomplice in the case, requested Mr Sheikh and Ahmed to meet him at a house in Kileleshwa.

On arrival, the two businessmen were taken to a room upstairs where they were informed the deal would take place. They found two other men in the room.

The two traders were requested to take out the cash they had in dollars in readiness for the exchange.

However, immediately after they presented their money, four other men stormed the room and introduced themselves as officers from DCI headquarters and ordered Mr Sheikh and Mr Ahmed to surrender.

The four men handcuffed the two businessmen and robbed them of the money and threatened to take them to the DCI headquarters.

Mr Sheikh and Mr Ahmed were escorted out of the apartment and into two cars before they were driven to the DCI headquarters.

After arrival at the main gate, the suspects stopped for a while then proceeded to a nearby restaurant where the purported DCI officers and their four accomplices disappeared with the money.

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After they were robbed, the complainants reported the matter to the police and Starehe DCI officers proceeded to the scene along Kiambu road where they arrested Mr Mwangangi.

He identified himself as an officer of the APS and confirmed to have been in the company of suspects who disappeared.

The officer led the detectives to a restaurant where a car he was using in the alleged robbery was recovered. Upon a search, he was found in possession of car keys and cash safe box keys in his pockets.

The detectives opened the car and found the cash safe box which they opened and found US dollars.

The DCI officers later visited the apartment and recovered the CCTV footage that captured the vehicles used by the suspects who abducted the two businessmen before they were robbed.

The investigators later identified one of Mr Mwangangi’s accomplices as a prison officer and traced him later to his work station. He is in custody awaiting to be charged.

Mr Mwangangi was charged before Principal Magistrate Lewis Gatheru of Makadara Law Courts where he denied the charges. He was released on a bond of Sh300,000. Hearing of the case starts on October 17, 2023.

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