Insecurity has caused tension in Kitengela town following a spate of robberies at major hotels.
Armed with two revolvers, ten people last week drove in two vehicles into Hotel Laetoli and tied up the workers and two guests.
The hotel manager, Peter Muasya, said the gang arrived at the hotel five minutes to 11pm on Tuesday night after the hotel closed business and took the watchman hostage.
“We were preparing to sleep when I certainly saw our watchman’s call coming in. He said a guest wanted to rent a room and went down to check,” said Muasya.
Muasya said he only saw one man carrying a safari bag, and when he opened the door, three people - two brandishing guns and one with a mallet, forced their way in.
He said that as soon as they were in, they claimed they were policemen. “I told them they were lying, and another one said they were robbers. In the hotel, a barman and a chef were preparing to leave, and so we were all tied together and thrown into one of the rooms,” added Muasya.
Earlier in the morning of Tuesday, last week, Muasya claimed that Isinya deputy OCS called him to tell him that there are increased robberies that target hotels in the area.
County Police Commander Beatrice Gachago said she had been away and could not comment on the same.
Muasya said after all the workers present were tied, the robbers who were now 10 attempted to rape one of the workers.
“Minutes later, we heard a truck being reversed towards the main door. They started by dismantling the hotel’s CCTV and all its kits, later they removed all the five big screens from the wall,” he said.
The manager said they also broke into the hotel’s store and took another large TV screen before ferrying all the beer and whiskeys from the bar and the store.
He estimated all the stolen items and drinks at Sh600, 000. The gangsters also attempted to carry away the hotel’s generator but abandoned it outside the main door.
The gangsters left the hotel with the loot 15 minutes after 3am on Wednesday.
Police officers from Isinya, some five kilometers away, according to the manager arrived after 5am. They were alerted by the management at 3.15am.
All this happened days after an unknown number of people attempted to break into Orkeju Resort, which is along the Kitengela/Isinya road.
The hotel’s manager said watchmen spotted the suspicious people driving in a saloon car and a truck and alerted the police immediately.
The gangsters took off immediately after realising they had been noticed.
On July 27, an unknown number of hooded gangsters in Kitengela raided Olerai Hotel and ordered all the revellers and workers to lie down.
