For close to one year Directorate of Criminal investigations (DCI) detectives have been hot on trail of well closeted city gang linked to a sophisticated car theft in the country. So good is the gang that they were hiding in plain sight and masking their dark secrets.
At the center of this is one Julius Osoro Nyagoi who detectives believe has been coordinating car theft across the country while residing in Nairobi’s high places enjoying the evil proceedings from his foot soldiers.
He eventually ran out of luck when on Wednesday when detectives drawn from DCI HQS, Starehe and Athi River joined forces in a sting operation, successfully pounced on the 39-year-old Osoro at Nairobi’s Kilimani area.
After interrogation, he led the detectives to his homestead at Green Park Estate in Athi River, a posh estate in the outskirts of Machakos County. In his house no. 641, two of his accomplices; John Michael Muturi, 38 and Charity Njeri Kimani aged 34 were also arrested, before a thorough search was conducted in which police recovered suspected stolen items.
These included a Czeska pistol loaded with 7 rounds of ammunition, two pairs of motor vehicle number plates bearing Reg. Nos. KBB 027Z and KDE 399Q, assorted motor vehicle parts, several sim cards, mobile phones, two laptops, an iPad, logbooks for KCE 135W and KCQ 381A, wrist watches and ATM cards.
Also found at the parking lot were motor vehicles Reg Nos. KDC 019P Mazda Bongo, KCE 135W Toyota Noah, KCB 790B Toyota Mark X and KDE 459A Toyota Fielder, all of which were impounded by the police.
Links to other crimes
In May 2023, the DCI arrested two men in Kitengela whom they believed were behind to be part of a major car theft racket in the area.
A police report says undercover sleuths stormed into a garage within the Jua kali grounds, near Kitengela Police Station, after they were tipped off by an informer. Three stolen vehicles were recovered, two new Toyata Axios, registrations KDL 773T and KDK 792R were found, both of them undergoing modification.
It is the garage owner who led the detective Osoro the prime suspect, whom they found on Mombasa Road, driving the third vehicle, a Toyota Probox, registration KDD 363L.
Assorted number plates were also recovered and a sophisticated gadget used to demobilise all the security features in a vehicle.
Police suspected that the vehicles were stolen from different parts of the country. Once modified, their security features destroyed and their bodies repainted, they are sold to unsuspecting buyers.
The two were released on bond. Osoro would later again be linked to another robbery of Sh10 million from a Chinese businessman in Kilimani, he was again released on bail.
The three suspects will be arraigned today Thursday, April 11, 2024.
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