Rustlers armed with bows and arrows stole 40 sheep on Monday night, barely a month after livestock were stolen in Limuru, Kiambu county.
Residents say rustlers took the sheep to neighbouring Kajiado county, to look for a quick market.
Flock owner Bishop James Njenga said on Tuesday more than 10 rustlers armed with spears, bows and arrows broke into his Nguirubi farm at 1am and led his 48 sheep out.
The cleric who lives at Boloti village in Ndeiya says he was called by people at his farm in Nguirubi. They told him the sheep shed had been broken into and the animals stolen.
"I live about 1.5km from that farm. Before I arrived, the rustlers had fled. We called the police and we started following leads," Njenga said. He is head of the New Compassion Revival Church.
Njenga said they followed footprints past the SGR station at the boundary of Kiambu and Kajiado counties.
Limuru deputy county commissioner Charles Mukele said eight of the 48 stolen sheep have been recovered.
Mukele said a team of police and residents are following leads.
"Even if we suspect at one point they were carried in a lorry, we hope we shall recover them," he said.
MP Peter Mwathi has asked the government to intensity patrols along the Kiambu and Kajiado border, saying the presence of police might scare away rustlers from stealing animals at night.
The legislator said he was pushing for an anti-stock theft police station to be constructed, as a permanent solution to rustling.
"We must come up with a lasting solution since two months do not pass without domestic animals being stolen," he said.
Resident Charles Karanja, 25, was killed by the rustlers when he was following 80 cows stolen from Ndeiya on July 31.
The MP said that within six months, about 120 cows have been stolen, 600 sheep and 60 donkeys.
(Edited by V. Graham)
