Three police officers suspected of involvement in the abduction of a foreign national at Mlolongo in Machakos County on January 8, 2024, were arrested and arraigned at the Mavoko Magistrate’s Court.
The three suspects, PC Fredrick Mwongela Mwololo, PC Samuel Mwiti, and PC Kimwele Musyoki, all attached to the General Service Unit, were arrested in Nairobi a week after the incident and detectives have sought bail orders to complete investigations as the hunt for the kidnap mastermind gathers momentum.
In the incident that has exposed an international criminal ring whose targets are hand-picked after checking their financial muscle, the victim (a Chinese national) was ambushed on his way to work when two cars blocked his vehicle before the suspects handcuffed him and sped off towards Machakos County.
After hours of disappearance, concerned friends reported the businessman’s failure to arrive at his workplace as expected to the DCI, where detectives forensically traced him to Mua Hills in Machakos.
But even as a team was dispatched to the area to search for him, the panicked victim resurfaced at the Athi River and recounted his ordeal at the hands of the kidnappers, who also robbed him violently.
Detectives established that five men, including a Chinese national (the mastermind), a taxi driver, and the three policemen had carried out the abduction and that on arrival in the Mua Hills, the mastermind called the victim’s family in China and demanded an unspecified amount of ransom to be transferred to a bank account in China.
Once the money was deposited, the gang’s accomplices in China confirmed that the family had complied and the victim was released.
Swinging into action, DCI’s Crime Research and Intelligence detectives launched a systematic investigation into the kidnapping right from Mombasa Rd where two vehicles, a taxi Reg. KDL 070P and another KAN car were identified as vehicles of interest.
On Friday 12 January, the taxi was traced to Rongai, and the owner was arrested. However, he informed the police that on the day in question, a friend had borrowed his car while he (the owner) was taking his children to school.
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Investigations revealed that the named suspect, who is still at large, was a former employee of the victim’s company and had been in constant contact with the arrested officers. In fact, forensic analysis placed the four at the scene of the crime.
Further investigation also led to the recovery of the KAN vehicle, which was impounded at Mlolongo police station.
As the search for the mastermind behind the abduction of the Chinese nationals continues, Interpol operations have also been launched to track down the gang’s accomplices in China.
