GSU officers arrested as car theft syndicate exposed

Detectives in Narok County Wednesday unearthed a car theft syndicate and arrested nine suspects among them two General Service Unit officers stationed at the Ruaraka barracks in Nairobi.

The syndicate, according to the police, has tentacles in Nairobi and other places in the country. Narok County Commissioner George Natembeya, the two officers were found with a security car siren, a police walkie-talkie, handcuffs, fake Sh63,000 notes, car number plates, one round of ammunition, 13 mobile phones, a driller and a hacksaw.

The ring was cracked after officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations tracked down a stolen Narok County government water bowser to a garage in Kariobangi last week.

Arrested alongside the two GSU officers were three county government officials, a driver, his conductor and a watchman, workers and the owner of a Thika garage where some of the lorry parts were impounded.

Mr Natembeya said the lorry's bodyworks were already changed within hours after it was stolen. “The water bowser was found with parts scattered.

The body that had been ripped apart was being converted into a sand transporter lorry in Kariobangi,” said Mr Natembeya.