Thieves steal coffee worth Sh400, 000 from Gituto factory

Thieves raided Gituto factory in Kirinyaga County and stole coffee worth Sh400,000 on Sunday. The criminals struck at 3am and looted 1,000 kilograms of clean coffee after attacking two night guards.

According to one of the factory officials, Mr Jamleck Kariuki, the gangsters stormed into the factory and beat up the guards on duty and tied them with ropes.

They then broke into the stores and loaded bags of coffee into a lorry and sped off. The theft believed to be an inside job left the farmers badly shaken.

NIGHT RAID

However, the guards managed to free themselves and reported the theft to the factory management.

"The guards came to us this morning and narrated what had happened at the factory and immediately the matter was reported to the police," said Mr Kariuki.

He said that he and his colleagues learnt of the daring night raid with great shock and told the police to get into the bottom of the matter.

"As officials of the factory we were surprised to receive information that all the coffee in our stores had been stolen by armed thieves who left one of the guards slightly injured," added Mr Kariuki.

NIGHT PATROLS

Mr Patrick Muriuki, another official, said it appeared that the theft was well planned and executed and urged the police to ensure those involved were exposed and prosecuted.

He lamented that coffee theft was rampant in the region and called on the police to intensify night patrols.

Following the raid, two factory managers, a casual worker and two guards were picked by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations detectives and taken to Kianyaga Police Station for interrogation.

Kirinyaga East police boss Antony Wanjuu appealed to farmers to be patient and give investigators time to complete their investigations.

"Investigations have been commenced and farmers should not panic," he said.