Race to get rich quick leaves four behind bars;DCI.
Race to get rich quick ended up as a tragedy, The DCI reported,
A criminal ring of four men is basking in the dreaded confines of high walls after their race to get-rich-quick crossed paths with DCI sleuths a week ago. Fabian Ochieng Ndubi, Fredrick Wanyingi, Kevin Adote Onyango and Phil scolten Ail were arrested after successfully breaking into a parked car at South C’s Rumi Estate in Nairobi, stealing Shs 50,000 & leaving behind a shattered driver’s window.
The distraught victim of the February 3, incident would later book the report at Akila Police Station, detailing his predicament but with zero clue on who the perpetrators could be.
But with the possibility of a distant cctv camera having captured some images, police at Akila escalated the case to DCI Headquarters.
Swinging into action, detectives stationed at the DCI Operations section probed the case further, nosing out a new modus operandi adopted by organized criminals who lie in weight at bank lobbies for unsuspecting customers making bulky transactions.
Detectives would later unearth in this particular case, that the male victim halted his Mercedes Benz at the Equity Bank Nairobi West Branch at around 2.30pm, where he withdrew Sh 350,000 meant for payment of his workers at a construction site.
Unbeknownst to him & the bank security, therein was a man pretending to be filling account opening documents, but who stole quick glances at the withdrawal counters to spot any bulky transactions.
At the parking yard in a white Mazda Demio were his three accomplices, awaiting his signal for whoever their target would be.
As the victim left the bank in his car, the Mazda Demio bearing forged registration nos. KDC 906L trailed him all the way to Rumi Estate, parking a safe distance from their target who alighted & headed to the construction site.
As one of the suspects monitored the victim’s movement, another who was armed with a catapult and a spark plug headed for the drivers window.
The third was the getaway driver, With the catapult, the suspect shattered the driver’s window, stole Sh 50,000 before beckoning his partner to jump in their car.
Luckily, the victim had alighted with the larger sum of Sh 300,000 and paid his workers.
Forensic analysts at the Imaging & Acoustic Unit retrieved cctv footages from both scenes, identifying one of the suspects who acted as lead to his accomplices.
By Friday, 10th February, the entire syndicate had been nabbed and two motor vehicles (KDD 515Q Mazda Demio and a KCE 107Y Toyota Belta) used in trailing victims detained. Search in the cars saw the recovery of their tools of trade, a catapult & nine (9) spark plugs.
The suspects have since been arraigned at Kibera Law Courts where they pleaded not guilty to three counts: Conspiracy to commit a felony contrary to section 393 of the penal code; Stealing from a locked motor vehicle contrary to section 279(g) of the penal code; and malicious injury to property contrary to section 339 of the penal code.
Investigators have further established that Fabian Ochieng’ jointly with another have a similar pending case of Stealing Sh 600,000 from a locked motor vehicle in June 2022, where they presented fake names at the same law courts as Raymond Muramba Mueni and Muthui Mutua.
The DCI wishes to warn the public of this mode of operation by criminals and appeal to the security personnel manning banks to be on the lookout for such gangs who prey on Kenyans toil and sweat.
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