Police in Ruiru, Kiambu County, are holding four suspected carjackers said to have kidnapped two vehicle dealers after luring them by pretending to be customers.
The four, among them a young woman, were arrested from their hideout in Juja nearly four days after allegedly abducting the traders and locking them in a building from where they were demanding Ksh5 million ransom from family and friends.
The victims, who had reportedly been locked up in a toilet and denied food, were taken to hospital after being rescued in feeble condition.
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"On Friday, December 1st, we received a report from Kiambu that two car dealers had been abducted by people pretending to be customers who then led them towards Juja," Ruiru Sub-county Police Commander Alex Shikondi said.
The police boss added that at dawn on Monday morning, police received another report that the same vehicle which was used to abduct the traders was involved in an accident around Kahawa Sukari area along the Thika superhighway and it was later trailed to their hideout in Juja.
"The abductors had hit a taxi and fled, but luckily their captives were found in the boot of the vehicle and they later led police to the hideout where the four were arrested," Shikondi, who was accompanied by Ruiru DCI officer Jeremiah Ndubai, added.
The police commander divulged that the suspects, aged between 27 and 33 years, were nabbed from an isolated rental house near the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT). Police are looking for the owner of the house as investigations intensify.
He added that police are still hunting for three more accomplices who are at large and appealed to members of the public to volunteer information that could lead to their arrest.
The suspects are set to be arraigned in court on Tuesday, December 5 when police will ask for more time to complete investigations.
Ndubai, on his part, said some spent cartridges were recovered from the scene of the accident, lending credence to the possibility that the suspects may have had firearms.
Geoffrey Mwangi, a colleague to the abducted car dealers, said the kidnappers had already transferred the vehicle, a Prado registration number KBS 775 G to one of their own.
He said they feared that the criminals were on a mission to eliminate their captives and that it was only by God's grace that they got involved in an accident.
Another colleague Susan Wangui said one of the dealers had sent Ksh130,000 to the kidnappers.
