Gang robs 20 homes in one week of terror

A vehicle, which police say was used by a gang to rob Nairobi residents, parked at Pangani Police Station on March 11, 2015 after it was found abandoned. PHOTO | BILLY MUTAI |

What you need to know:

  • Three men and woman target city residents during the day in daring raids.
  • Police vow to catch the criminals.

A gang of three men and a woman committed at least 20 robberies and shot a police officer in Nairobi in the past one week.

According to the police, the four are targeting victims inside their houses.

On Tuesday, the gang robbed at least four families in Westlands and Lavington, using a white Nissan X-trail, which police later seized at the parking yard of a hotel in Ngara.

During the operation, the gang members, who escaped on foot, shot an Administration Police sergeant in his left shoulder.

The officer’s colleague from CID Pangani shot one of the men but the gangster still managed to escape.

Kenya Police spokesperson Zipporah Mboroki said the robbers targeted Lang’ata, Kilimani, Kileleshwa and Lavington and would, in some cases, pose as workers from water or electricity companies.

Police have, however, not arrested any of the gang members.

“Our officers are tracking them down,” said Ms Mboroki.

TIED VICTIMS

In most cases, according to the police records, the woman would knock on the door and the men would join her as soon as it was opened.

On Tuesday at around 3pm, the gang entered the house of Ms Priyang Mehta at Amrutha Apartments on Brookside drive in Spring Valley.

They tied the victim together with her mother and househelp before robbing them of jewellery, cash, laptops and other household goods of unknown value. They then escaped using the white Nissan X-trail.

An hour later, the gang used the same vehicle to rob Ms Sharon Clean, an Australian working as a volunteer, in Palm Valley Apartments in Muthangari.

They left and robbed another family in Ngara before proceeding to the Blue Hut Hotel parking yard where they later shot the policeman.

On Sunday, less than 500 metres from the hotel, the gang also attacked Mr Nuresh Sutar in his house at Casorina Heights apartments on Forest road.

They robbed him of Sh200,000, three laptops, an iPad and jewellery worth Sh250,000. A gang operating in the same manner last year was arrested with the help of CCTV footage.