Two young people were arrested by security officers in Njoro Sub-County, Nakuru County, following a break-in and theft of over 200 new IDs at the Mauche office.
Speaking to K24 Digital on the phone, Njoro Deputy County Commissioner Mokin Ptanguny said that they received an alert that the registration office in Mauche Centre was broken into by unknown criminals and the batch of IDs that was to be issued was missing.
He said that they followed leads, and the two were found in possession of 42 IDs, and that their files are being prepared to be arraigned in court over the incident.
“We suspect they could be part of the extortion ring that intended to use the IDs to fleece the owners of money. So we are following up to see if we can nab more suspects in the case,” he said.
Ptanguny said that the suspects were to be arraigned in court yesterday, but they are awaiting a green light from the office of the director of public prosecution on the charges to ensure that it’s watertight and can secure a conviction.
He said that the security officers have beefed up alertness over the incident, saying that the criminals seem to target government documents to use for their illegal activities.
Following the incident, residents of Mauche expressed concern that the theft of the IDs could put the young people who were expecting to use them for their constitutional obligations into jeopardy.
They called on the government security teams to comb the area and recover the IDs.
