House breakers devise new way of raiding upmarket suburbs

They allegedly posed as visitors, opened an apartment with master keys and took Sh339,000 in cash from one apartment and gold jewellery worth Sh40,000.

They then moved to the next apartment, witnesses say, but their plan was halted by the screams of a woman.

The three suspects were arraigned in Makadara Courts on Tuesday and charged with house breaking and theft.

SCREAMS

At around 11:30 am on Sunday, August 10, three men entered Bandari Apartments in South C through the main gate.

The guards on duty took their identification documents and recorded their entry in the guest book as visitors of one of the residents.

“They did not look suspicious to us, as they knew exactly which house they were visiting, and when we asked for their IDs and the driving license of the one driving, they cooperated,” said one of the guards in an interview with Nation.co.ke at the apartments on Wednesday.

Unknown to the guards, the three gave false names and did not surrender their real IDs, as the police later found out their official names.

Moments later, the day’s activities were interrupted by screams from a woman living in one of the apartments.

ESCAPE

House cleaner Robert Murang’a raised the alarm, asking the guards to close the gate after thieves had broken in.

“I was pumping water to the tanks serving one of the apartments when I heard a woman scream. As I approached her apartment, I saw two of the men running from the house carrying a bag. I shouted at the guards to lock the gate,” said Mr Murang’a.

The three suspects’ car was immediately driven at high speed towards the gate. The driver told the guards to open the gate as he did not want to be caught up in the scuffle with the thieves.

“He insisted that he had seen the thieves and told us they were still inside the apartments. As we were opening for him to drive off, the other two ran out through the gate as the cleaner shouted at us not to let them go,” said the guard.

PURSUIT

Two of the guards, aided by the cleaner, pursued the two men as the driver was locked into a room near the gate by another guard.

“When we caught them they pretended that they were just visitors who were running away from trouble for fear of attack by the thieves but I told them that they were the thieves as I had seen them give me a bad look as I went upstairs to pump water,” said Murang’a.

In their possession was a black bag with keys inside, some money and a bolt cutter along with a list of apartments in different parts of South C.

Police were called and they apprehended the suspects.

The woman who had raised the alarm recorded a statement and was then taken to a hospital.

DISCOVERY

Later that day, when the resident of the apartment that had been broken into came back home, he discovered that money had been stolen from his house.

The three suspects — Rashid Wasike, Timir Prabhudas and Gabriel Owuor — were arraigned in Makadara Courts on Tuesday and charged with house breaking and stealing.

They pleaded not guilty before Senior Principal Magistrate Victor Wakumile and were each granted a cash bail of Sh80,000 or an alternative bond of Sh300,000.

Only one of the suspects, Gabriel Owuor, paid the cash bail. The other two were remanded at Industrial Area Police Station.

The case is scheduled to be heard on November 21.

EYE-OPENER

Makadara police boss Nehemiah Langat told Nation.co.ke at his office in Industrial Area Police Station that the incident was an eye-opener to the new tactics used by robbers.

“I urge all residents and security guards in such apartments to be vigilant and observe the activities of each resident as this seems to have been coordinated by someone who knew the place well,” he said.

Mr Langat added that investigations would continue to establish if there was possible collusion between the robbers and other people.

Managers of Bandari Apartments stated that they had tightened security in the premises to prevent any such incidents from happening again.

“We have introduced a formality where guards call the tenants to pick up their guests at the gate, as well as an additional feature of searching the cars coming in, something that was not being done previously,” said Patrick Sayo, who spoke on behalf of the estate’s management.