On the same day that seven suspects were charged with stealing Sh72 million from a Nairobi ATM, armed robbers struck nearly 800km away in a similar heist.
According to a senior police officer based at Moyale, armed men ambushed two pilots and Wells Fargo cash officer shortly after they landed at the Odda airstrip carrying Equity Bank cash.
The policeman, Galvacioh Marigu of Critical Infrastructure Protection Unit, said the three victims had alighted from the aircraft when the robbery occurred.
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"The pilot went to check the fuel level when three strangers emerged from behind the waiting bay. One of them produced a pistol and ordered them to lie down," said the police report filed at the Moyale Police Station.
It was then the other suspects forced the door of the aircraft open and managed to removed two sacks among the three containing unknown amount of money and escaped on a motorcycle, the police report said.
According to Marigu, who had accompanied Equity Bank officials to the Odda Airstrip which is about 10km from their police station, the armed robbers left one of the sacks in the aircraft and no one noted their motorcycle's registration number.
Police said that the Equity Bank manager had not made prior security arrangements in regard to the transit of the cash.
The armed robbers escaped by cutting the chain link perimeter fence and no one was injured during the incident, police said in their report.
