By VINCENT MABATUK
Nakuru, Kenya: Police in Nakuru County are holding for questioning an elderly woman in connection with handling stolen goods at her house in Machine area.
The goods included mineral water, quencher, maize seeds and plastic tanks worth sh1.5 million.
According to police, the goods were stolen on Wednesday night while on transit from Nairobi excel Chemicals to Kisumu Nakumatt Supermarket.
The driver, the police said, was flagged down by unknown number of armed men near Stem hotel along Nakuru- Nairobi highway. Many trucks carrying goods have been robbed at the section of the road.
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''On stopping, armed thugs dragged the driver out of the lorry into a small car before they sped off towards a forest where they tied the lorry occupant to a tree until in the morning,'' said Samuel Waweru, a transporter.
The driver and his turn boy were rescued in the morning and have since recorded their statements at Mwariki police post.
Some of the goods were hidden under the bed, sitting room, bedroom and the Kitchen.
According to Waweru, a member of the public gave him the information that led to the discovery and the arrest of the woman who was alone in the house.
Speaking at the scene, she defended herself saying a friend introduced her to three men he claimed to have encountered mechanical problems and needed a place to store the goods until the following day.
The house with several rooms and stone perimeter wall has no electricity connection with the compound left unattended to an indication that the woman might have been new to the house.
The lorry estimated at over Sh3 million is yet to be recovered after the tracking system was allegedly dismantled by the gangsters.
Nakuru area police boss Bernard Kioko said they have so far arrested three other people to aid in investigations.
