- The duo who sought anonymity checked in at the hotel one week before the incident happened.
- The foreigners are from different nationalities, one coming from the UK but working in the Philippines and the other one is a Canadian working in Thailand.
Image: The Star
Police in Mombasa are investigating an incident where electronics belonging to two foreigners went missing in a hotel room where they were staying in the Shanzu area.
The duo who sought anonymity checked in at the hotel one week before the incident happened.
They had left their room the evening of September, 13 only to come back and find their items missing.
The foreigners who are from different nationalities, one coming from the UK but working in the Philippines and the other one is a Canadian working in Thailand said they were in Mombasa for a training session that kicked off between September 11 to 16.
They said that their room was locked when they left on the eve of the incident but upon coming back, the lock had been broken.
“On that day evening, Wednesday 13, we attended the training session and decided to go swimming for a few minutes at 5.15 pm. When we went back to our room we found the door broken into and the safety box missing,” one of them said.
They explained that the items which were stolen included a camera, two mobile phones, two laptops and a safe box that had travelling documents including passports and 900,000 dollars an amount which is equivalent to 132 million Kenyan shillings.
However, according to police records, the amount which was reported missing was USD 600, which is equivalent to Sh88,320.
Following the incident, they immediately reported the matter to the hotel management who called in security officers.
The matter was reported at the Bamburi Police Station where it was recorded under OB Number C/ORG/1/9/VOL11/016/2023.
"This was my fourth trip to Kenya and I have never experienced such an incident before."
"The same evening sometime after the incident happened, we were told that a woman who was on a motorcycle and wearing a Buibui returned our passports but no one identified her, may the thieves just thought we would be stranded that is why they brought the documents back, their interest was the money and electronics," one foreigner said.
He said the documents were handed over to the management by one staff who alleged that they had been delivered at the gate.
Upon checking on the CCTV, he said two men were seen breaking into the room, took the items, and left.
"Apparently these people had checked in a day before and checked out the same evening of the incident but we were told by management that they had used the wrong identification, so they were observing our movements."
He said the DCI who had been contacted the same night of the incident came the following day in the morning, he called upon the hotel management to enhance the security in the area.
"I understand insecurity happens everywhere but in the future, I urge they enhance the security at the hotel to avoid such incidents from occurring,” he said.
Speaking to the Star, the hotel management declined to give further information on what happened noting they reported the matter to Bamburi Police Station.
Kisauni sub-county OCPD Joseph Mutungi confirmed the case was reported to the Bamburi police station and investigations into the matter are still ongoing.