Authorities in Nairobi have detained a taxi driver and found the car they suspect was driven by two workers of a security company who disappeared with Sh94 million on Monday.
The suspect has been recognized by the police as a cab driver in the Ruiru region.
Following a raid on his house in the Ruiru neighborhood of Kamaki, he was taken into custody. The police had found the car that had been seen on CCTV being driven from the South C neighborhood on the day of the cash theft.
Detectives discovered that the car’s color was being altered when they got to his house early on Saturday morning.
CCTV evidence, which was obtained by authorities, showed that the arrested man was the one who had driven the car from Lang’ata Road and had been seen driving across the city by multiple cameras.
ARREST OF SUSPECTS /RECOVERY OF STOLLEN CASH BY WELLS FARGO SECURITY
DCI Officers from Nairobi in pursuit of the Kshs 94,918,750/= stolen from Quickmart Supermarket on Nov 6, 2023, Wells Fargo Company employees on transit to Family Bank, have arrested four suspects. pic.twitter.com/ulSUUjZQYi
— National Police Service-Kenya (@NPSOfficial_KE) November 12, 2023
The car had been fitted with new number plates at the time of the arrest, which were not the original plates. Simultaneously, the suspect produced a quantity of cash that the authorities could not disclose.
The two employees allegedly drove the truck filled with cash out of the company’s Nairobi premises at 6 a.m. on Monday, according to the police. They were later alerted by the two armed Administration Police officers who were assigned to them.
Police in Lang’ata were mobilised to pursue the fleeing suspects, and the empty company vehicle was found abandoned in South C.
DCI boss Mohammed Amin has already published the names of the two missing men, a crew commander and his driver. He said he has formed a special team to hunt for the staff and recover the cash
Detectives from the elite Operation Support Unit (OSU) based at the DCI headquarters, together with officers from the Nairobi area Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau, have been tasked to hunt for the missing suspects.
This heist comes three years after another incident in 2020 where a man said to be the mastermind behind a Sh72 million ATM cash theft was shot by police under controversial circumstances.
Wycliffe Odour, the man said to have masterminded the theft, was shot and killed by police in Kayole. At the time, police in a statement said Oduor was fatally shot after a botched robbery in Nairobi’s Kayole junction.
IPOA at the time announced that it had opened investigations into the shooting of Odour, the man said to have masterminded the Sh72 million bank heist.
