Woman drugs lorry driver, escapes with goods worth Sh3m

Lorries parked in Malaba, on the Uganda-Kenya border. Police in Nandi are hunting for a female hitchhiker who drugged a lorry driver and his conductor before stealing goods worth Sh3 million from them. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • According to Mr Kipsang, he was heading from Nairobi to Uganda when a woman waved at him to stop at the Southern Bypass and requested a lift. He obliged.
  • Mr Kipsang said he fell asleep only to find himself in a strange land, Nandi East, as he later came to know, confused and lost.
  • Nandi East DCIO Musa Khaemba told the Nation that police sent out an alert about the missing lorry immediately after they received a report from the lorry driver.

Police in Nandi are hunting for a female hitchhiker who allegedly drugged a lorry driver and his conductor before stealing goods worth Sh3 million from them.

The driver, Leonard Kipsang, and his helper Harrison Tanui found themselves in Nandi East at around 8am on Sunday, confused.

According to Mr Kipsang, he was heading from Nairobi to Uganda when a woman waved him down on the Southern Bypass and requested a lift. He obliged.

“She seemed to be a nice lady who appeared to be stranded late in the night, so I told her to hop into the truck and we proceeded with the journey,” he told the Nation.

On the way, the woman offered them canned beer as her appreciation for their kind gesture.

Unknown to them, the "stranded" woman had spiked the drinks and was on a mission — to steal from them.

“I had a sip, then I told my conductor that I would take the rest when we reach our destination but since he was idle, he started to enjoy the drinks,” he said.

STRANGE LAND

He said he started to feel dizzy as they approached Nakuru town and that prompted him to stop and get some rest. That is when he realised the conductor had already fallen asleep.

Mr Kipsang said he fell asleep only to find himself in a strange land, Nandi East, as he later came to know, confused and lost.

Nandi East DCIO Musa Khaemba told the Nation that police sent out an alert about the missing lorry immediately after they received a report from the lorry driver.

“He found his way to our station and reported the incident. Immediately, we raised the alarm and later received information that the vehicle was abandoned at a tea plantation with goods missing,” said Mr Khaemba.

“The tout was also found somewhere else while trying to trace a nearby police station and we took them to the government hospital, where heroin was noticed in their blood sample,” added Mr Khaemba.

ANOTHER CASE

He urged all travellers to be on the lookout for criminals posing as stranded passengers seeking assistance at night.

“There is a cartel that comes late in the night pretending that they are stranded in order to be assisted but only turn out to be robbers,” noted Khaemba.

He urged those who pick up hitchhikers to always insist that they show their identification. He also advised drivers not to accept food from strangers.

This comes after another driver of a truck heading to Uganda from Nairobi was hijacked on Friday by a four-man gang.

The gang members were dressed in jungle police attire masquerading as traffic police officers on the Nakuru-Eldoret highway. The truck was abandoned in later Kapsabet.