Detectives on Thursday, October 31, 2024, arrested four persons of interest connected to attempted robbery in Vihiga County.
In a statement, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) revealed that the four currently in police custody, attempted to steal sacks of cement from a truck destined for Busia.
According to detectives, the four invaded the truck as it was still on transit before throwing out sacks of cement and moving them to a nearby bush, attempts by the driver to stop them went futile as they continued to offload the bags.
“Four suspected highway robbers were earlier today arrested in Vihiga’s Emuhaya sub-county, after a foiled theft attempt on a transit truck ferrying cement from Machakos to Busia via the Kisumu – Busia route. In the 6am incident at Asikote section, the 55-year-old driver of the FAW truck belonging to Mombasa Cement Ltd spotted people hanging on the left side door, before the door flung open and they started throwing out sacks of cement,” the statement reads in parts.
“He hooted repeatedly to scare them off but the illegal offloading continued, with more of the thugs dragging the felled bags to the thickets.”
Consequently, the driver stopped the truck in hopes of confronting them; however, this angered them forcing them to advance towards him.
“Luckily, Embali Police Station officers who were on patrol got curious about the rapid honks, speeding to the location just in time to save the overpowered driver. The robbers scampered into the thickets with the police on their shadow, except one – Bernard Ochoyi Omari, 33 – who was cornered and arrested shouldering one of the stolen 50kg bags,” DCI added.
During the arrest police recovered 9 bags of the stolen cement, they also confiscated suspected stolen items including 21 mosquito nets, a sack of wheat among others when they raided the house of the other three persons of interest who were later arrested.
All four persons of interest will be arraigned in court today.
“The officers sweeped the thickets and nearby houses, recovering 9 bags of the stolen cement. Of the bags, one was recovered at the house of a suspect namely Boaz Amunabi Joshua alias Spear, and in the course of the search, the officers also recovered a blood stained machete, 21 mosquito nets, a sack of wheat among other suspected stolen items.
“Other suspects arrested in the operation included Francis Khulali, 70, Anthony Etale, 22 and Winnie Odongo Ombati, 28. They were all placed in custody awaiting processing for arraignment on Friday, November 1,” DCI added.
