Fear in the city as gangsters stage more raids

They came rushing in on Saturday around 12.45pm. Three were in suits, while the other two were dressed casually. All had loaded handguns.

According to Mr Suresh Patel, the owner of Biba stationery store on Kaunda Street, the gangsters immediately forced his customers onto the floor.

One of them walked over to the counter and shoved a pistol in his face. “They made me open the till,” Mr Patel recalls.

Minutes later, the robbers walked out the front door, having stolen mobile phones, a laptop computer, a wrist watch and at least Sh100,000 in cash.

A shaken Mr Patel dashed out to the street and started shouting for help.

Security guard

It made no difference. “There was not a single security guard or policeman nearby at the time,” he sighs. “It was hopeless, completely hopeless.”

On Monday, a similar theft happened at Vicky’s Wear on Tom Mboya Street. According to a manager, Shah Patel, three gangsters entered the store with pistols.

This time, two customers parted with their mobile phones, while the shop owners lost some Sh35,000.

It therefore came as no surprise when yet another business in the city centre was hit on Tuesday. This time, six robbers targeted Kant’s, a menswear shop on Kaunda Street. One was reportedly wearing a suit, while the others were casually dressed.

“I saw at least one handgun while they forced everyone into the back room,” says an employee, Hasmukh Shah, who was on his way out when the gangsters stormed in around 1.45pm.

These three thefts are the latest events in what appears to be an organised crime wave affecting the commercial areas of downtown Nairobi.

This month alone, at least five clothing shops on Moi Avenue and Kimathi Street have been robbed.

In September, Nyals, a store on Moi Avenue, Super Cosmetics beauty shop on Mama Ngina Street and at least two computer dealers on Kaunda Street were held up.

There have been numerous such reports from Biashara Street. Most of the robberies contain striking similarities. In each case, the neatly dressed thieves have targeted a medium-size business during daylight hours, armed with pistols.

At least four witnesses on different occasions said they overheard the gangsters speaking the same local dialect. Virtually all the targeted stores are owned by Indian businessmen.

“How could these robberies possibly be isolated?” An angry Mr Shah posed yesterday as a small crowd gathered outside his business.

Police who had come to record a statement were soon distracted when gunfire erupted on the nearby Kimathi Street.

Large crowds had formed to see the unfolding drama for themselves, as traffic was brought to a halt.

As it turns out, the gunshots were related to the theft. The same robbers shot dead an electronic’s store attendant next to The Stanley Hotel, before getting caught in a shootout with police on Biashara Street.

Another bystander was killed during the exchange, but the gangsters escaped.

Despite the notable similarities in the recent attacks, police have dismissed reports of an organised gang operating in Nairobi’s city centre.

Following Tuesday’s violent incident, police refused to address journalists.

But last week, deputy OCPD Richard Mugwai told Daily Nation that any reported robberies are “normal crime occurrences” that are unrelated to each other.

He said that the police were keeping crime under control. “Everything is normal… there is no emergency of an organised crime wave,” Mr Mugwai said last Thursday.

“Man and crime have lived side by side in urban centres for a long time,” he said. Businessmen, however, are not accepting this argument.

They have taken their case to the Nairobi Central Business District Association, which plans to host a roundtable meeting later this week to discuss the crime wave.

The meeting was to take place last Friday but was postponed. Last week, the association’s acting CEO Lucas Gimona said he was deeply concerned about the systematic robberies and pledged to follow-up with the police.

But the recent wave of events suggests that serious investigations are needed into these latest thefts, given their systematic, organised and sometimes deadly nature.

Until such inquiries take place, business owners in downtown Nairobi will operate with growing fear and insecurity.