NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 29 - Gangsters casually walked into a forex bureau in Nairobi on Sunday and grabbed Sh5 million, police and witnesses have said.

No shots were fired during the mid-morning robbery that occurred at a forex bureau at Cianda House on Koinange Street.

“We were alerted that a robbery had occurred but when we arrived, the robbers had escaped with the money,” Thomas Atuti, deputy police chief at the Nairobi Central station said.

“The owner has informed us he lost about Sh5m, but he is still carrying out his own audit to ascertain the exact amount of money stolen,” he added and revealed the money stolen was in both Kenyan and foreign currencies.

The robbery occurred when the owner was preparing to open his business for the day.

He said a guard who was on duty disappeared immediately after the robbery, raising suspicion that he may have been involved or was abducted by the robbers.

“The businessman has informed us he had asked the guard to keep away anyone entering the forex bureau until he was fully prepared to start business. But shortly after that, he said he was confronted by three men who ordered him to surrender money, which he did,” Mr Atuti said.

When he came out of the premises, he was unable to locate the guard, police said.

Detectives at the Central Police station said that they had corroborated the information given by the trader with witness accounts.

Mr Atuti told Capital News that an investigation on the robbery and a massive man hunt for the guard had been launched.

Police said it the first robbery at a forex bureau in many months.