Nyeri police accuse traders of faking robberies

What you need to know:

  • After investigations, police established that the theft was planned.
  • Police cited glaring inconsistencies in the report and claim that no one witnessed the robbery.

Police have warned Nyeri business owners against faking robberies following a second case of a stage-managed theft in one week.

The security agencies told the Nation that businessmen in the town are staging robberies to claim compensation from insurance companies.

Nyeri Central police boss Muinde Kioko said four people have been charged in court over the fake thefts.

SUPERMARKET

“This is a very dishonest trend and we are not going to allow it to continue. We will arrest and prosecute anyone who thinks they can fabricate stories,” he said.

The police raised concern after four armed men allegedly robbed a supermarket in Nyeri town on Thursday night, making away with Sh50,000.

The men, said to be armed with pistols, reportedly stormed the supermarket located at a bus terminus at around 7pm and stole the money.

After investigations, police established that the theft was planned.

Police cited glaring inconsistencies in the report and claim that no one witnessed the robbery despite the supermarket’s location at the terminus.

“At that time someone should have seen or noticed something but nobody did. There is a taxi bay right outside the supermarket but the operators learned of the said robbery after police arrived,” said Mr Kioko.

ARRESTED

The owner of the shop and employees were questioned and police said they would be charged in court for giving false information.

This was the second incident after four employees of Nyeri Water and Sewerage Company were arrested for stealing Sh700,000 from their employer in a stage-managed robbery.

The four, said to be cashiers at the water service provider, had reported that they were robbed by four gun wielding men as they made their way to bank daily earnings.

They reported that the incident happened at around 3

The said robbery happened outside the water company offices.