CCTV Footage of how gangs stormed a Westlands cafe // Screengrab (Citizen TV)
Detectives arrested three suspected armed robbers linked to the Chaiiwali restaurant robbery during an intelligence-led operation in Githurai, Kiambu County.
The detectives recovered two pistols and ammunition believed to have been used in a string of robberies across Nairobi and its environs.
According to police, the operation was conducted by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Headquarters on Monday, July 20, 2026, at around 6:00 p.m. at an apartments in Mwiki.
Detectives had tracked three suspects believed to be hiding in a sixth-floor apartment. Police said the suspects detected the officers' presence and attempted to escape through the rear exit by climbing down the building.
Members of the public raised an alarm, prompting officers to respond. Police fired warning shots into the air, after which the suspects fell and were arrested.
The suspects included a foreign national.
Police said a female suspect managed to escape during the commotion and is being sought.
Following their arrest, investigators said the suspects led officers to another apartment in the Manguo area of Githurai Kimbo.
A search of the house led to the recovery of a Mini Beretta pistol loaded with a magazine containing three rounds of 9mm ammunition and a Retay Falcon pistol loaded with a magazine containing five rounds of 9mm ammunition.
Preliminary investigations have linked the suspects to an armed robbery captured on CCTV on July 4, 2026, at Chaiiwali Restaurant along General Mathenge Road in Westlands.
During that incident, two armed robbers robbed customers before firing shots into the air as they fled on two motorcycles.
Senior officers from the DCI and Githurai Kimbo Police Station visited and processed the scene.
The three suspects remain in custody as investigations continue, while police pursue the female suspect who escaped during the operation.
The case took a new twist when one of the suspects in the attack was shot dead last week in the Joska area and was found with a missing pistol that had been issued to a Court of Appeal judge.
The Court of Appeal judge, his family and workers were questioned after the official pistol issued to him was recovered from the suspect on Monday.
Police said the judge is a licensed firearm holder, but he had not renewed his permit since October 2025.
The suspect had been linked to a series of robberies in the city and elsewhere before he was trailed and killed in the Joska area on July 13 during a confrontation.
The suspect, identified as Vincent Ochieng, was trailed to the Joska area and shot dead by police.
After securing the house, officers recovered a Beretta pistol fitted with a magazine loaded with four rounds of 9mm ammunition.
Additional live rounds, spent cartridges and three mobile phones were also recovered from the scene.
The firearm was forwarded to the National Police Service Forensic Laboratory for ballistic analysis to establish whether it had been used in other violent crimes and to determine its ownership.
It was then that police established the firearm had been licensed and issued to the judge.
The judge was summoned by police and reported that he had lost the firearm. This was after he was informed the weapon had been recovered from a suspected criminal in Joska, Machakos County.
He told police officers he received a phone call informing him that his firearm had been found in the possession of a criminal.
The call prompted the judge to check his residence in Kitisuru, where he believed he had stored the firearm. Upon searching, he discovered that the weapon was missing.
He told police that he rarely carried the firearm and that the last time he physically confirmed its presence was in October 2025, when he intended to renew his firearm licence.
However, he did not complete the renewal process, and the licence expired on October 1, 2025.
The missing firearm was a Beretta pistol together with 15 rounds of 9mm ammunition. It was the same one recovered from the slain suspect on Monday, police said after checking its details.
Police said they had launched investigations to establish how the firearm disappeared from the judge's residence.
Authorities are also expected to establish the circumstances under which the firearm may have left the judge's possession and whether any criminal offences were committed.
The developments have prompted calls for licensed firearm holders to always ensure the safety of their weapons.
Ochieng was killed after opening fire on detectives who had raided a house in Joska Town, where he was reportedly hiding at his girlfriend's residence.
The woman and a child were unharmed in the incident.
The operation was conducted jointly by detectives from DCI Headquarters and DCI Matungulu following intelligence on the suspect's whereabouts.
Police said officers identified themselves and ordered the occupants to open the door, but the suspect instead fired at them through a kitchen window. Detectives returned fire, fatally wounding him.
Investigators believe the suspect was part of the gang that staged a daring armed robbery at Chaiiwali Restaurant along General Mathenge Road in Spring Valley, Westlands.
During the attack at about 10.40 p.m., two gunmen entered the restaurant posing as customers before drawing pistols and ordering diners to surrender their valuables.
The robbers stole seven mobile phones and an HP laptop in an operation that lasted less than a minute before fleeing on two motorcycles towards the Parklands area.
Witnesses said the attackers fired two rounds into the air as they escaped, apparently to scare off anyone who might attempt to pursue them. Police later recovered a spent 9mm cartridge at the scene.
Investigators subsequently traced some of the stolen mobile phones to Kariobangi, providing fresh leads in the investigation.
Surveillance footage from the restaurant showed masked gunmen pointing pistols at customers as they demanded phones and other valuables. Terrified patrons were seen taking cover as the robbers fled.
Police said investigations have strongly linked the suspect killed in Joska to the Westlands robbery and other violent robberies reported in Nairobi, Kiambu and Machakos counties.
