A suspected carjacker was on Friday, September 8, 2023, shot dead by police while another was arrested during a raid in Machakos.
According to police commander Patrick Lobolia, the two were highly involved in a car theft syndicate causing sleepless nights to residents in Machakos and neighbouring counties. The stolen vehicles would then be sold to neighbouring counties.
"For the last few weeks, they have been targeting D-Max vehicles along Mombasa Road. We believe that once stolen the vehicles are taken to a neighbouring country," the police boss said.
Lobolia noted that the arrested suspects' primary role in the syndicate was to deactivate the vehicle tracking systems.
In the recent incident that led to their arrest, the two had rented out the vehicle recovered from a car-hiring service situated at City Cabanas. At the time, they claimed that they needed it to transport some items to Machakos.
The car hire service was inclusive of an in-house driver who drove them to their destination.
Shortly after taking off, the two allegedly commandeered the truck and disabled only two of its tracking devices unaware of a third tracking device pinned on the track.
The driver was able to escape and reported the matter to Kyumbi police station leading to a police chase.
The officers were able to catch up with the gang after following the truck. However, they only managed to arrest one suspect after the others escaped in another vehicle.
The officers recovered a stolen Isuzu D-max truck and a fake gun during the operation. They also seized four Safaricom lines, two Airtel lines and a toy pistol.
"Police officers caught up with the gang at Mutituni, with some of the suspects managing to escape in another vehicle. We recovered four Safaricom lines, two Airtel lines and a toy pistol," Lobolia added.
