Three thieves were cornered by irate residents of Mwiki area- a surburb of Nairobi, after an attempt of breaking into a house whose owner had traveled, came to naught.
The trio who struck at night ,were spotted by a drunk woman who at the moment was attending to a nature call, as they jumped over a residential gate.
''Niriwasha kukojoa nikaaza kupiga duru migi.Waristuka wakaruka dani haraka.'' Said the witness as she stood frightened, shivering to the cold outside.
In spite of her advanced state of inebriation she gave a detailed, perhaps a well recalled statement of the incident.
In response to the witness’s alarm, locals at the area crowded the vicinity, surprisingly heavily armed with asorted weapons; stones, machettes, clubs, stones, whips, bows and arrows.
Bristling with righteous indignation,they assembled outside the house's gate determined to teach the thieves a lifetime lesson.
Desperate and panic-stricken,the thugs made for the roof but were forced to jump back after all alternatives of escape, ran dry. The crowd was getting bigger ; the rage boiling hot.
Later, one of the burglars broke the door's padlock using a metal rod they had brought along for their illegal assignment.
By now, the police had already been alerted but unfortunately, they had not yet arrived.
The crowd pushed and pulled the gate from outside eagerly trying to get hold of the criminals but all was in vain.
Bringing down the gate proved a tall order for the mob who retreated hoping the thieves would come out clean. Clearly, a dubious hope.
A brave young man attempted to mount the gate but was advised against the move, there was no confirmation whether the gang had retaliatory weapons.
Women,strategically positioned in the balconies of the surrounding buildings,came in handy as they maintained an ariel surveillance of the 'foot soldiers' whereabouts.
The five hours-long stalemate was brought to an end with the arrival of men in blue in their roaring Land Cruiser from the Kasarani constabulary.
Some of the mob members cheered them as they disembarked from their vehicle.
They interacted with the mob asking them questions hoping to glean crucial information that would be used against the gang, in a court of law.
In no time some of the policemen jumped bravely into the compound and minutes later, ordering the thieves to surrender or face the unedifying prospect of forceful ejection.
Surprisingly enough,the trio came out hands held high in the air as if in a worship session.After a thourouh frisk the police hand-cuffed them and led them to the patrol vehicle.
Several shots were fired up in quick succession, to scare off the crowd.
Area chief,Dismus Malove,confirmed the incident and thanked the area residents for responding swiftly.
He said that the thugs will be deatined at the Kasarani police station for questioning after which they would be arraigned in a court of law.