Gangsters on motorbikes strike fear along busy Mombasa Road

NAIROBI: Notorious criminal gangs on motorbikes have struck the busy Mombasa Road and are committing brazen daylight robberies.

The armed gangs, suspected to be in three or four people each, operate between Capital Centre and General Motors (GM) and usually use motorcycles for their escape.

At least three employees of the Standard Group Limited have fallen victim to these marauding gangs this year alone.

On January 11, at around 11am, the gang accosted a senior employee of the media company.

“I was walking back to the office from Panari Hotel when three men on a motorbike passed me and stopped a few metres ahead. Then a tall, burly guy alighted, pointed a gun at me and ordered me to lie down. He then ordered me to give them my wallet and a bag I was carrying. They sped off once they were done,” said the man who did not wish to be named.

He said he lost Sh6,000 and a bag. The gangs target ordinary wananchi and businessmen visiting the numerous financial institutions located on either side of the busy highway.

NUMEROUS BANKS

Equity Bank has a branch at Kellico Complex while a few metres away, Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) has its headquarters near Ole Sereni Hotel. On the opposite side, there is a Kenya Commercial Bank branch at Gateway Park and Barclays Bank at Parkside Towers.

Cooperative Bank has a branch at Mirage Plaza in Bellevue while DTB has another branch at Capital Centre, where there are a host of automatic teller machines (ATMs) belonging to different banks. There are several ATMs too at Oil Libya petrol station in Bellevue.

There are several banks at the expansive Sameer Business Park, while Barclays Bank has a branch at Cabanas.

There are other businesses between Capital Centre and Mlolongo.

The gangs seem to prefer the stretch of the road between Capital Centre and GM since they can easily escape in to the nearby Mukuru kwa Reuben and Mukuru Kwa Njenga slums.

Sadly, the police have been unable to neutralise them despite several complaints made to them.

Industrial Area police station chief Amos Ashimala said a three-man motorbike gang operating along Mombasa Road was gunned down three weeks ago in Imara Daima and “since then the robbery incidences have decreased drastically.”

“I only know of the attack on the senior Standard employee. No one else has come forward with another fresh case,” he said.

But a week after his ordeal, the same Standard Group employee watched helplessly as a two-man gang on a motorbike assaulted a lady who had just withdrawn Sh500,000 from Equity Bank at Kellico Complex.

The lady was attempting to cross towards Tile and Carpets at Parkside Towers when the thugs struck and made off with the cash. Administration Police officers guarding the bank shot in the air to scare them off.

“I was having lunch at KFC at Total petrol station when I saw two men who had been standing beneath a tree pretending to be repairing a motorbike approach the lady. One of them started the bike while the other forcibly took away the money,” he said.

It is suspected that the gang could be working in collusion with bank employees.

In the past one year, a former director and a guard of mattress manufacturer Bob Mill have been accosted at least three times as they awaited for the gates to the premises to be opened.

Just this week, Standard Group reporter Irvin Jalang’o was accosted by three thugs on a motorbike as he walked to board a matatu at GM.

“I was carrying a bag and they must have thought I had a laptop. Luckily I had not carried it to work that day. One of them brandished a gun at me. The gang made away with my mobile phone and Sh1,000. After rummaging through my bag, they threw it away at GM,” he said.

In mid-February, James Okello, another Standard Group employee, was accosted outside Sameer Business Park as he walked to the bust stage at GM in the evening.

“I remember seeing a motorcycle parked by the roadside and I assumed it had broken down. But as I passed it, two people who were ahead of me suddenly turned and pointed a gun at me,” he said.

Okello lost his phone, Sh500 and other personal items that were in his wallet. Both Jalang’o and Okello said they reported the attacks at Industrial Area Police Station.

INCREASED PATROLS

Late last year, a woman was accosted at the Bellevue flyover by three thugs on a motorbike. She had just withdrawn money from Cooperative Bank at Mirage Plaza and was crossing the road to join her husband at Shell petrol station, a short distance from the bank. She lost Sh50,000.

All the victims The Standard on Sunday spoke to said the thugs do not bother to hide their faces with helmets or balaclavas. “I can identify my attackers when shown in a lineup,” said Jalang’o.

Ashimala said police officers from Industrial Area and Embakasi have increased daily patrols along Mombasa Road to three to combat the gangs.