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More loot found in Kenya CIT heist

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 26 – Police on Friday raided the house of a prime suspect in the G4S cash heist and confiscated exquisite furniture and electronics worth about Sh500,000 believed to have been purchased with part of the stolen cash.

The suspect is believed to have been part of the gang that plotted with two G4S security firm employees to escape with millions of shillings on transit in Mombasa two weeks ago.

Coast Provincial Chief Mr Reche Nyagah who is leading the investigation said they raided the house in Kitengela after earlier recovering Sh17 million from the suspect.

He said they had also recovered a further Sh63 million in Mombasa early on Friday, bringing the total so far recovered to Sh80 million.

“Acting on information, we raided this house and as you can see, there is a lot of evidence. This is the man we found with Sh17 million yesterday (Thursday),” Mr Nyagah told reporters during the raid conducted by officers from the Special Crime Prevention Unit (SCPU).

“We now have overwhelming evidence in this case, apart from the cash we have recovered, you can see this man had bought expensive furniture and we have recovered all the receipts of purchase,” he added.

The receipts recovered showed the items were bought nine days ago, barely a week after the robbery which took place in Mombasa.

The recovered items were loaded onto a police lorry and three police officers assigned to escort them to Mombasa where they would be used as evidence in court.

A caretaker of the residential flats located less than a kilometer in the outskirts of the town told police the man had paid rent for the next three months.

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The caretaker and neighbours of the suspect were also questioned by police and said they did not know the man well.

“He is a new tenant, we rarely see him and in fact, I cannot even tell it is him if I saw him today because he stays indoors most of the time,” one neighbour who requested anonymity said.

One of the officers involved in the investigation told Capital News they had searched the man’s house in Kitui before they moved to Nairobi.

“We did not find much in Kitui, until when he led us to this house here. We are still interrogating him and we hope to find the other suspects and recover the remaining cash,” the junior officer who cannot be named said.

Police did not allow journalists to speak to the suspect, who is believed to have collaborated with two G4S employees in plotting the robbery.

On being arrested, police said, the suspect claimed he was in possession of Sh1.3 million only.

“Initially he had denied having any money or playing any part in the robbery, but when we searched his house, we recovered Sh17 million, we are hoping he will show us where more money is being kept,” another detective said.

Police believe the suspect might be keeping more money in some of his friends’ or relatives’ houses in Nairobi or Mombasa.

Mr Nyagah said they were “closing in on the G4S driver and a radio controller who escaped with the loot, leaving a van behind.”

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They had collected the money from various banks in Mombasa but no official confirmation of the amount lost has been given by the security firm.

Police sources said the money lost is estimated to be about Sh350 million.

G4S has placed a Sh15 million bounty on the suspects.

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