- The weapon was recovered from three men who were lynched on June 25 by a mob after robbing an Mpesa attendant in Marurui, along Northern Bypass.
- Before the weapon was recovered, the suspects had robbed an attendant and tried to escape when an alarm was raised, alerting the public.
Image: NPS
A pistol stolen from a police officer after he was drugged in Nairobi four years ago has been linked to 28 robberies in the city.
The attackers, who were in possession of the Jericho pistol after it was stolen from the police officer on June 20, 2019, in Parklands, Nairobi, used it to target M-Pesa shops.
Ballistic tests on the Jericho pistol serial number KE KP44330654 have shown it has since been used to commit 28 robbery with violence incidents in Kasarani, Makadara, Kayole, Kamukunji, Dandora, Buruburu, Ruai, Kikuyu, Embakasi and Karatina.
The weapon was recovered from three men who were lynched on June 25 by a mob after robbing an M-Pesa attendant in Marurui along Northern Bypass.
It has since been discovered that the gun was stolen from a police officer who was attached to Riruta police station on special duties. Previously, he worked at Parklands police station.
He had been drugged and left in a trench before his weapon was picked by his attackers.
The officer was rushed to Avenue Hospital but his condition worsened, prompting his transfer him to Nairobi West hospital for specialised treatment.
Unknown to the officers, their colleague was a victim of a vicious gang of women who, until recently, had taken city nightclubs by storm and were spiking drinks belonging to male patrons with highly potent drugs meant for patients with mental disorders, before robbing them of their valuables.
Police said they were trying to establish if the people who drugged the officer were part of a spiking syndicate, operating under slain gangster Samuel Mugo Muvota, who was shot dead in cold blood in May this year in unclear circumstances.
A team of detectives analysing the cases in which the pistol was used said they have discovered the firearm was later hired to gangsters operating from Kayole, who for the past four years have terrorised Mpesa agents in the city.
Some have lost their lives while others bear permanent bullet marks that will forever be a sad reminder of their encounter with the bloodthirsty gang.
Police officers have not been spared either as some continue nursing wounds, inflicted by the thugs who have escaped several police dragnets.
Using the firearm, the gang made away with an estimated Sh10 million from the Mpesa agents alone, the DCI said.
Before the weapon was recovered, the suspects had robbed an attendant and tried to escape when an alarm was raised, alerting the public.
Police and witnesses said a gang of three had attacked one Joseph Nganga at about 10pm at his shop near a petrol station at gunpoint and robbed him of Sh900,000 and a laptop before they jumped onto a waiting motorcycle and sped off.
The owner then jumped onto a car and chased them on the Northern Bypass towards Kiambu which prompted a mob to stop the three on the motorcycle before they stoned them to death.
Police who arrived at the scene said they recovered the Jericho pistol belonging to the service loaded with nine bullets.
Such cases of stolen weapons being used to cause terror have been on the rise.
On Monday night, a police officer was shot and killed by a suspected thug who used a pistol that had been stolen from another officer in Embakasi in 2019.
(edited by Amol Awuor)