How man posing as Wetangula’s ‘bodyguard’ robbed driver of Sh5m lorry
A man pretending to be the bodyguard of Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetangula and his accomplices are on the run after robbing a driver of a lorry worth Sh5 million.
Narrating the ordeal to the police, the driver identified as Joseph Waithaka and a turn boy, Peter Mwai, both employees of Wakape Parcels Company Limited, said they received a phone call from the “bodyguard” who told them that he wanted a lorry to transport water pipes from Gilgil to Bungoma.
The man on the phone informed them that he was a bit held up and that he was sending someone to accompany them to Gilgil.
According to the victims, after the call on Monday afternoon, a woman showed up and they left Nairobi accompanying her in one of the company’s lorries, an Isuzu FRR.
On reaching Gilgil around 9pm, the woman requested them to stop and she alighted and soon she was joined by two men.
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They told police officers that she told them that one of the men was to direct them to where the pipes were while the other was to accompany them to Bungoma.
They were instructed to drive towards the Old Nairobi Road and ended up in a thicket where they found three other men who ordered them to alight before they took over control of the vehicle.
Then two of the men and the woman drove away towards the Nairobi-Nakuru highway while the other three men held the driver and his turn boy hostage.
They tied them on both hands and legs and kept them in the thicket until morning when they escaped after robbing them of their mobile phones and other personal effects.
The victims later managed to free themselves and found their way out of the thicket and reported the matter at Gilgil Police Station.
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Cases of people impersonating prominent persons, especially on social media, and obtaining money fraudulently are on the rise in the recent past as DCI continues to crack whip on the vice. Since December, three people have been charged in court.
In December last year Mr Collins Kipleting, a 22-year-old artiste was fined Sh50,000 by a Milimani magistrate court after pleading guilty to creating a fake Facebook account and for impersonating Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. He hails from Uasin Gishu County.
In January, the DCI arrested Mr Calvince Otieno Odhiambo for impersonating the Cabinet Secretary for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Eliud Owalo by creating a Facebook account and posing as the CS.
It was alleged that he was promising business opportunities, employment and empowerment programs to unsuspecting Kenyans.
He was arrested in Rongo, Migori county and released after the CS wrote to the DCI withdrawing a complaint.
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