NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 18 – Two gangsters have been shot dead and a firearm recovered following a night raid by Nairobi-based detectives drawn from different specialized units in an operation to flush out criminals in the city.
A statement issued by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Saturday stated that an Austrian made Glock pistol and 29 live rounds of 9mm caliber ammunition were recovered from one of the gangsters during the operation.
The Friday night operation was led by Nairobi’s Operations Branch and the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) together with the support of officers from Buru Buru and Embakasi police divisions.
“The thugs were accosted by detectives in the nick of time as they finalized their plans to stage attacks within Embakasi, throwing their evil plans into disarray. The thugs who were initially three scattered into different directions shooting at the detectives frenziedly. But our men responded with precision, fatally wounding two of them on the spot as the third miscreant staged a daring escape into Mukuru kwa Njenga settlements” the DCI said.
The third suspect managed to escape from the hands of the detectives with bullet injuries after he jumped into a sewer line.
The DCI said that preliminary tests indicated that the recovered firearm had been used in an earlier robbery incident which left one person dead.
“After preliminary ballistic tests, it was established that the same firearm had been used to commit various robberies in the city, including the cold-blooded murder of one Monica Katee, who was shot five times at Mukuru kwa Njenga, four days ago,” they said.
The DCI stated that the fallen thugs were also linked to a series of robberies that have been targeting mobile money lending outlets within Nairobi’s Eastlands suburbs, adding that one of the gangsters identified as Kevin Maruga, was positively identified by some of the victims.
A 2018 Nairobi County Crime Outlook study released by the National Crime Research Center showed robbery with violence incidents accounted for 30.2 per cent of crimes while muggings accounted for 68.8 per cent of crimes.
The report showed the incidents averaged 19.1 per cent of the national crime rate.