NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 21 – Police in Nairobi have intensified the search for a four-year-old boy who was kidnapped on Thursday while on his way home from school.
The kidnappers have been calling the family demanding a ransom of Sh50 million before they release the boy.
Police investigating the incident told Capital News that the gang blocked a saloon car that was ferrying the boy home from school near the Muthaiga roundabout, ordered the driver out and sped off with the car and the boy.
The car was later found on Lang’ata Road.
“I do not want to divulge what we are doing but I can assure you that we are not very far from succeeding,” Nairobi Provincial Chief of the Criminal Investigations Department Peter Muinde who is coordinating the search said.
“All specialised units have been mobilised to rescue the boy and apprehend the kidnappers,” he added.
The Special Crimes Prevention Unit (SCPU) and the Flying Squad are taking lead roles in the search.
“The kidnappers never made contact with anyone until Saturday when they started calling the family (demanding ransom),” one police officer involved in the search said.
The officer added that they were relying on signals from mobile phone operators to track the kidnappers.
Cases of kidnapping were rampant in the country three years ago but they drastically reduced due to what Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere terms as a sustained crackdown on the kidnappers using an elaborate intelligence network.
Up to 20 suspected kidnappers were shot dead during the crackdown which was mainly conducted in Nairobi, Central Province and parts of the Rift Valley.
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