Sh80m G4S cash recovered
Furniture from an apartment in Kitengela, where Sh17 million was recovered, is loaded onto a police truck. The cash is believed to be part of the money stolen from G4S. Photo/DENNIS OKEYO
Detectives investigating the theft of hundreds of millions of shillings by G4S employees in Mombasa two weeks ago have arrested one suspect and recovered Sh80 million.
This is the biggest recovery of stolen money in Kenyan police history. The eight detectives from the Special Crime Prevention Unit led by Coast Provincial Investigations Officer Nyagah Reche raided the suspect’s Kitengela Town apartment on Thursday.
They recovered Sh17 million in cash and household goods, including furniture, believed to have been bought with some of the stolen money.
Buy property
The detectives, accompanied by G4S officials, had earlier recovered Sh63 million from the man after he allegedly attempted to buy property in Mombasa. He was then brought to Nairobi from where he led investigators to the Kitengela apartment where the Sh17 million was found in one of the two bedrooms.
Mr Reche on Friday confirmed that Sh80 million had been recovered in Kitengela and Mombasa and a suspect arrested. “We confirm that Sh17 million was recovered in Kitengela and another Sh63 million in Mombasa and we have a suspect in custody,” he said.
On Friday afternoon, the detectives raided the house in which the suspect lived with a woman and the household goods were loaded into a police truck and taken to Mombasa.
A neighbour, Mr Eliud Kimanthi, expressed shock at the development, saying the suspect had moved into the flat two weeks ago. “I can’t believe that I have been living with a neighbour who had Sh17 million in the house. Nobody knew who he was. He moved in with his family two weeks ago and we did not suspect anything,” Mr Kimanthi said.
Police are now using the suspect to track two former G4S employees, Sylvester Mbisi Mutua and Humphrey Wekesa Wanjala, who are on the run. The two allegedly fled with about Sh300 million in foreign currency collected from four banks on February 12 in Mombasa.
Granted bond
In Nairobi, another G4S employee charged with stealing Sh34.6 million was on Friday released on a Sh500,000 bond with a surety of similar amount. Mr Alfred Odhiambo Oyuda was granted the bond by Kibera chief magistrate Ms Uniter Kidula.
Additional reporting by Nicholas Ngolyo
