•Police reports state that the Masouf-led team broke into the vehicles thereafter and stole Sh 550,000 from a woman whose name has been withheld.
Image: ANDREW KASUKU
Police in Mombasa are holding their colleague, a rogue constable attached to DCI Railways Police Station, who is suspected to be among thugs who steal money from the public.
Police chiefs say constable Fadhili Ali Masouf has been colluding with criminal gangs, breaking into vehicles and stealing valuables.
He was arrested on Friday evening and is held at Port Police Station.
Other two suspects are held at Central Police Station.
“Preliminary investigations reveal that the officer hired three vehicles on diverse dates on behalf of three criminal gangs and two vehicles were spotted through CCTV footages trailing unsuspecting customers from the bank,” a police report reads.
The reports states that the Masouf-led gang broke into the vehicles and stole Sh550,000 from a woman whose name has been withheld.
Police say the same gang stole Sh360,000 in Nyali area on a different occasion.
It’s not clear when these two incidents happened.
Yesterday, Coast Regional acting DCI boss Paul Letting said investigations are ongoing to net more criminals.
On January 29, gangs shot dead Dock Workers Union accountant Samuel Kinanga and stole Sh1.5 million from him.
He was killed outside the union building in Sparki, Mombasa, where he had arrived with money to pay salaries and allowances for union officials.
Separately, police are investigating the theft of Sh10, 000 and a mobile phone in a car outside Mombasa Mash offices.
Patrick Muriuki’s wife went to pick a parcel at the offices last week on Thursday when a thief entered her car and stole her handbag, which had Sh10,000 and a mobile phone.
Following the incident, police arrested a suspect, who was identified by a witness and is booked at Central Police Station.
The complainant accuses the Mash management of not failing to produce CCTV footages to help in investigations.
“The first time they said the IT personnel was not around. Then later when he came he said he was busy and later said network was not working,” Muriuki told the Star yesterday.
But a director at Mash, Abeid Jumaan, said his office had tried to help but the Internet to retrieve the CCTV footage was slow.
“The system is down and there is little we can do,” he said.