Kamiti Maximum Security Prison entrance. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]
A prison warder has been arrested in connection with a kidnapping in Kasarani.
The officer based at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison was arrested alongside three other civilians police say are his accomplices, after a failed attempt to get a ransom.
Posing as detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, the gang arrived at a cereals shop in Githurai 44 on Tuesday and picked a 20-year-old man, claiming they wanted to question him, police said.
The man was bundled into a waiting car that drove off. Shortly after, the man’s mother was called and told to send Sh50,000 in exchange for her son’s freedom.
According to police reports, the mother sent Sh5,000 after receiving threats to kill her son.
She was instructed to transfer the balance to four different mobile phone numbers.
The mother reported the matter at Kasarani Police Station where officers started tracking the gang.
“We were able to know the owner of the car after contacting National Transport Safety Authority,” said Kasarani sub-County police commander Peter Mwanzo.
The owner told the police that his car had been hired.
It is believed the kidnappers abandoned the victim in Mwihoko after suspecting they were being trailed.
They were intercepted along Kamiti Road.
The prison warden was found with a pair of handcuffs, according to the police.
