The Directorate of Criminal Investigations is established under the National Police Service Act, 2011. It is part of the larger National Police Service; the other organs being the Administration Police Service and Kenya Police Service.
Structure of the DCI
The Directorate Headquarters
The Headquarter comprises of four main command branches under the Director, and the command spreads out from the Headquarters to Regions, counties, sub counties and DCI offices in relation to their service provision. These include: –
Administration Directorate
Operations Directorate
Investigation Directorate
Forensic Directorate
The other headquarter Directorates include: – Public Complaints, Inspections, Criminal Intelligence Unit, National Central Bureau, Logistics, Reforms, Legal & Crime Affairs, Crime Research Intelligence Bureau and Counter Terrorism Centre of Excellence. The other formations include KAPU, Railway, DCI Academy and ATPU.
For the efficient and effective running of the Directorate towards achieving its core mandate, the Director, is also assisted by non-uniformed staff headed by an Administrative Secretary (Deputy Secretary) who also has officers under him both at the headquarters and at the County and Sub-County levels.
The Regional and County Levels
At the regional level, there are Regional Coordinators (RCs) who are directly responsible to the Director for effective administration of their respective Regions. Under the Regional coordinators are County Criminal Investigation Officers (CCIOs). Under CCIOs are the Sub-County Criminal Investigation Officers (SCCIOs) and Officers in-charge of Sub-offices in crime prone areas.
Currently there are 8 regional, 47 County Directorate Offices and 3 Formations (ATPU, KAPU, DCI Academy & Railways) and over 297 Sub-county commands countrywide. The Regional coordinators (RCs) in the former Provincial headquarters coordinate the counties within their regions and report to the Director on all matters affecting the Directorate.
The current functions of the Directorate as provided for under the National Police service Act, 2011 include
- Collect and provide criminal intelligence,
- Undertake Investigations on serious crimes including homicide, narcotics crimes, human trafficking, money laundering, terrorism, economic crimes, piracy, organized crimes, and cyber crime among others.
- Maintain law and order.
- Detect and prevent crimes
- Apprehend offenders
- Maintain criminal records
- Conduct forensic analysis
- Execute the directions given to the Inspector General by the Director of Public Prosecutions pursuant to article 157(4) of the constitution
- Coordinate Country Interpol Affairs
- Investigate any matter that may be referred to it by the Independent Police Oversight Authority
- Perform any other function conferred on it by other written Law.
PRELUDE: END OF AN ERA
For Muhoro, it was seven years of controversy at helm of DCI
January 06, 2018
Nation Media Group
Mr Francis Ndegwa Muhoro finally left the Directorate of Criminal Investigations after a controversial tenure spanning seven years.
He preferred to be called Frank, not Francis.
Among security circles, his unexpected discharge by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday was received with relief but, of course, a few beneficiaries of his tenure are unhappy.
How he survived the years as Kenya’s senior-most detective is worth a study because his woes set in even before he was appointed to take charge of the office of Director, in the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
After three years in office in 2013, Mr Muhoro faced an early exit after new laws were effected that required a higher degree of vetting for personalities who would head reformed police units.
Then Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Amnesty International and the Independent Policing and Oversight Authority (Ipoa) separately opposed Mr Muhoro’s appointment on a new six-year term in 2013.
But former President Kibaki held the last word and, finally, Mr Muhoro sailed through.
PLUM POSITION
He was appointed to the plum position on the eve of the promulgation of the Constitution on August 26, 2010.
It was seen as a tactical move to avoid the rigorous appointment process that was to take course under the Constitution, stripping the President of powers and bestowing them on the yet to be established
Then powerful Internal Security Permanent Secretary Francis Kimemia played a big role in the appointment.
Before that, after years of teaching at Kenya Police College, Mr Muhoro had been promoted from a senior superintendent of police to assistant commissioner of police and placed as the commandant of the police academy in Loresho, Nairobi, a low key institution.
His appointment catapulted him to the nerve centre of security operations in Kenya.
TRANSFER
Nevertheless, the detailed report by Ipoa claimed Mr Muhoro influenced the transfer of three senior police officers unjustifiably, since they were investigating a matter involving one of his friends.
In this case, the complainant was Ms Jane Wanjiru Iriga who claimed DCI Muhoro influenced the chief examiner of documents at the Criminal Investigations Department, as the Directorate was known at the time, to change his facts to his preference. The friend was identified as Mr Fredrick Kirubi.
The case involved a tussle over a piece of land.
In the land saga, Ms Wanjiru accused Mr Muhoro of using his position to influence the CID document examiner, then assistant commissioner of Police Emmanuel Kenga, to change his report which had shown that she (Ms Iriga) had not forged share transfer forms of a 400-acre coffee estate in Makuyu which was the subject of a family dispute pitting her against her step-daughter, Ms Ann Wambui Iriga.
Ms Wanjiru claimed that Mr Muhoro was interfering with the investigations because he was a friend of Mr Kirubi’s, Ms Wambui’s boyfriend.
TATU CITY SAGA
Mr Muhoro’s name featured in allegations by prominent lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi, over involvement in the Tatu city saga.
And when the National Youth Service (NYS) scandal broke out, then Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru raised eyebrows after writing to Mr Muhoro, and not the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, to take up the investigations.
Findings of the investigation were handed to Ms Waiguru though ordinarily such reports should be submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko.
President Kenyatta announced on Friday that he had accepted Mr Tobiko’s resignation and nominated him for a cabinet secretary position ahead of approval by Parliament.
Further queries followed and it emerged that fraud detectives under Mr Muhoro were adversely mentioned in allegedly taking bribes, amounting to millions of shillings, from some beneficiaries of the NYS scandal.
NYS SCANDAL
Under the same ministry but at the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF), the embattled board chairman Bruce Odhiambo also approached Mr Muhoro to investigate the alleged loss of Sh180 million paid to Quarandum Ltd for non-existent ICT consultancy works.
In the Tatu City matter, Mr Muhoro was accused of deliberately commissioning two investigations into the project which resulted in two different files being sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions with conflicting recommendations.
Under Mr Muhoro’s leadership, Kenyans remained in the dark regarding the murder of former Kabete MP George Muchai and controversial whistle blower Jacob Juma. And, most recently, the killing of Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Information Communication Technology manager Chris Msando. Some suspects were arrested and taken to court but the execution is yet to become clear.
The IEBC ICT boss was killed just days to the August 8 General Election.
Once in a position of power, Mr Muhoro was also not shy to fight for his place in the police hierarchy. Although the DCI, according to the law, does not sit in NPSC, Mr Muhoro was always present in what was officially communicated as “on invitation.”
SUPREMACY BATTLE
At one time, a supremacy battle between him and former Deputy Inspector-General of Kenya Police, Ms Grace Kaindi, threatened to cripple the work of criminal investigators.
Mr Muhoro had taken an initiative to train a large number of police officers from other uniformed police units to become detectives but Ms Kaindi refused to release them to the DCI.
Ms Kaindi, in fighting Mr Muhoro, had vowed never to accept that the DCI falls under her docket as things stood before the 2010 Constitution. Before then, the police was headed by a commissioner and the Director of Criminal Investigations was one of the commissioner’s deputies.
There is also the issue of televangelist James Ng’ang’a who was arrested for causing death by reckless driving.
An audit that followed the road crash showed that Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnet was “initially duped into supporting a cover-up.”
It further showed the cover-up involved senior detectives at DCI.
BUNGLED INVESTIGATIONS
The report also showed the pastor, before Mr Boinnet’s intervention, was illegally escorted by senior police officers during his trips outside Nairobi.
Under Mr Muhoro, the DCI has been discredited for bungled investigations, collusion with suspects and suspicious disappearances and murders.
He replaced Mr Simon Gatiba Karanja who died in May 2010 at his home in Thika.
In the Tatu City scandal, the DCI was accused of protecting and sharing investigation files with former Central Bank of Kenya Governor Nahashon Nyagah and industrialist Vimal Shah.
Mr Nyagah and Mr Shah fought over the multi-billion-shilling Tatu City scandal in which they are accused of attempting to grab the investment from Mr Stephen Jennings, the principal investor.
KOINANGE FARM DISPUTE
In court, lawyer Abdullahi said his client, Mr Jennings, made a complaint to the CID on August 3 against Mr Nyagah and, after investigations, Inspector Ezekiel Masaka recommended that a number of people be charged.
But before the file was forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Abdullahi claimed, the CID boss confiscated it. Besides being mentioned adversely in the tussle for the Tatu City project, Mr Muhoro’s name also came up in 2015 in the Koinange farm dispute.
One of the women stripped of the right to administer the property of the late Mbiyu Koinange, Ms Eddah Wanjiru Mbiyu, asked Ipoa to investigate Mr Muhoro for allegedly protecting lawyers whom she claimed were siphoning money from the deceased’s estate.
Koinange’s widow had accused the lawyers of forging a court order, which they allegedly used to withdraw Sh284 million from the estate’s account without the knowledge of the administrators.
PART 1 – RESTRUCTURING
New DCI boss seems to tick all right boxes, but will he deliver?
January 06, 2018 — updated on June 28, 2020
Daily Nation
One evening in 2005, George Maingi Kinoti lay helpless in the middle of Jogoo Road, Nairobi, writhing in pain after gangsters sprayed him with bullets and left him for the dead.
On the fateful day, Mr Kinoti was driving alone when he bumped into a five-man gang that was attempting to carjack a motorist.
With no time to call for back-up, and a gun in hand, he confronted two of the gangsters unaware there were others following in a different car.
After the shooting, he spent two months, including days in a coma, at the Armed Forces Memorial Hospital as it was known at the time.
Today, the detective has metal plates in his legs because some of his bones were shattered.
CRIMES
Fast forward to January 5, 2018, and the man who was staring at death is Kenya’s top sleuth following his appointment by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Mr Kinoti, 50, now has the chance to rid Kenya of serious crimes, more so because he was once a victim.
He takes charge at a time the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, the wing of the National Police Service mandated to rid Kenya of complex crimes, needs reforms to redeem its lost glory.
He will lead the directorate.
In this office, he will find an overflowing in-tray comprising files of unresolved murders, robberies and other case files that have gone cold.
It has not been easy for Mr Kinoti.
In 2006, he submitted a resignation letter to his bosses after the new police leadership under former commissioner Hussein Ali attempted to create a new order.
TARGETED
He was one of the officers targeted after the former DCI Joseph Kamau fell out with the government of the day over the Artur brothers scandal.
At the time, Mr Kinoti doubled up as Mr Kamau’s personal assistant and head of Kanga Squad, a specialised unit that was mandated to pursue and subdue hardened criminals.
But the administration, on further investigation, refused to accept Mr Kinoti’s resignation.
Maj-Gen Ali then revoked his transfer to Kuria as deputy division commander, an assignment that had prompted the resignation, and deployed him to Vigilance House, the police headquarters, as the officer in charge of complaints section.
Mr Kinoti has led some of investigations that to date are cited by police instructors to their students.
He was the lead detective in the case involving author Ngugi was Thiong’o and his wife Njeeri, when they were attacked by gangsters at Norfolk apartments in Nairobi.
PRESSURE
At the start, with a different team of detectives, the case faced collapse and under intense pressure, Mr Kamau was forced to axe the team and constitute a fresh one under Mr Kinoti.
The first team had been working hand in hand with Prof Thiongo’s relative, Chege Kiragu, who was present during the attack.
But when Mr Kinoti took over, within weeks into the investigation he arrested Mr Kiragu alongside security guards who were guarding the apartment during the attack.
The guards are still languishing in prison although Mr Kiragu was acquitted.
Between 2004 and 2005, Ngong area on the outskirts of Nairobi became synonymous with strange murders.
After a string of killings and after efforts by the local police division to curtail them bore no success, Mr Kinoti and a handful of officers under him were deployed there.
Investigations showed that the gang behind the killings was targeting “new comers” who had bought land and built homes there in a bid to run away from the bustle associated with residential estates nearer to the city centre.
SHOOT-OUTS
In the operation that followed, involving shoot-outs and police stake-outs, sanity was restored in the Ngong suburb.
Mr Kinoti holds a masters degree in security management from Egerton University. He also graduated with a bachelors degree in sociology in 1992.
After a two-year stint at Vigilance House, Mr Kinoti was posted to Central Bank of Kenya where he rose to become an assistant director in charge of security and investigation services.
He left the posting in 2014 to become the National Police Service spokesman.
Early in his career, Mr Kinoti was appointed the district criminal investigations officer in Migori. He also served as the deputy head of criminal investigations in Busia between 1996 and 1999.
At the CBK, Mr Kinoti authorised and led crackdowns against illegal betting companies that had set shop in Upper Hill and at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi after which he was promoted to Assistant Inspector-General of Police.
INTELLIGENCE
Late in 2017, the new DCI was in Washington DC where he underwent training in border intelligence control, a collaboration between Kenya and United States governments.
Mr Kinoti is also a trainee of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime on anti-money laundering as well as anti-terrorism.
He was also among senior police officers who have been training with counterparts in National Intelligence Service on psychological warfare.
In the new order by President Kenyatta, Mr Kinoti is expected, among other tasks, to break cartels that have taken over Mazingira House, the DCI headquarters, on Kiambu Road.
These cartels, comprising unscrupulous businessmen and rogue detectives, work to ensure investigations are compromised so as to accommodate their interests.
UNRESOLVED MURDERS
This way, unresolved murders and crooked land deals are never fully investigated and thus law breakers are never taken to court.
Under Mr Kinoti’s leadership, just like happened after his predecessors took charge, heads are expected to roll to suit his style of doing things.
The changes in the NPS also affected officers who were Mr Kinoti’s bosses.
They are Joel Mboya Kitili and Samuel Arachi who were Deputy Inspectors-General in charge of Kenya Police and Administration Police respectively.
Mr Arachi was replaced by Mr Noor Gabow from the Kenya Police College while Mr Kitili was replaced by Mr Edward Njoroge Mbugua.
Kinoti disbands Flying Squad in new changes
To remain undercover, Flying Squad officers wear casual clothes, are allowed to remain unshaved and use vehicles with civilian or foreign registration numbers.
![DCI boss George Kinoti shows off his shooting skills [Video] | Pulselive Kenya](https://i0.wp.com/ocdn.eu/images/pulscms/MTA7MDA_/efdb583e75556ca3d0ec98c32d33bc87.jpg)
Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti on Tuesday disbanded the dreaded flying Squad Unit.
“This marks the end of the Flying Squad Unit and no officer will present himself or herself to the public as such,” Kinoti said in a statement.
To replace the Flying Squad, Kinoti formed another squad called Sting Squad Headquarters (SSH) that will have a maximum of 50 specialised officers.
The 50 will undergo specialised courses within and outside the country prior after selection, he said.
SSH will deal with armed robberies, kidnappings, motor vehicle theft and sale and distribution of contraband and substandard goods.
In the changes, Special Crime Prevention Unit (SCPU) was scaled down to a smaller unit and renamed Special Service Unit (SSU) which will be based at the Nairobi Headquarters.
“Officers deployed in the unit have undergo intense training in and outside the country leading to upgrading of their competencies, enhanced skills and knowledge aimed at making the unit more effective and efficient while maximizing available resources,” he said.
The SSU and SSH will then be linked to Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB), which handles intelligence operations.
“Both squads will be on standby 24/7 as needed in critical crime emergencies within the country,” Kinoti said.
Other units working under CRIB include Cybercrime, Ballistics, Scenes of Crime, Principal Crime Registrar, Crime Intelligence Unit, Homicide and DNA, Toxicological, Chemistry and Biology Lab Units.
Following the disbandment, applications for the new specialised units were advertised.
A report sent to all DCI bosses and all DCI officers reads: “The director DCI intends to recruit qualified and dedicated officers from the DCI to establish a quick response unit…it will will be populated with officers of high integrity with specialized skills to do surveillance to enable then react appropriately.”
“Interested officers who meet the following qualifications and are above average in shooting skills or poses special special trainings are required to submit their qualifications through their respective commanders,” the directive signed by Mwangi Wanderi on behalf of DCI George Kinoti, dated December 31, 2019, reads.
The candidates should be medically and ethically sound, emotionally and ethically sound, below 35 years, and have at least three years of service with clean record.
This is the second time that the Flying Squad Unit is being restructured in two years.
On February this year, Kinoti scaled down the unit and changed the command line.
During the changes, dozens of police officers service under the units were also transferred to other units after reports of that some officers were colluding with criminals to hire out their guns.
The unit, which has drawn criticism in the for executions, was created after increased carjacking and armed robberies in Nairobi in 1995.
To remain undercover, officers in the unit wear casual clothes, are allowed to remain unshaved and use vehicles with civilian or foreign registration numbers.
Shake-up at DCI as Kinoti deploys over 200 officers
People Daily
December 20th, 2020
The Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) George Kinoti has restructured the elite Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB), in a shakeup that saw several officers deployed to general duties.
Kinoti said his decision is meant to enhance efficiency and performance among the officers.
“Others who were presumed to be ineffective have been re-deployed in new stations as general investigators,” Kinoti said.
CRIB was formed by Kinoti in 2018 to profile criminals, undertake research and analysis in crime and to identify crime patterns and trends.
Kinoti says CRIB has been the backbone of intelligence-driven operations, as they work hand in hand with special units such as the Special Service Unit.
Powerful monster
Unlike Criminal Intelligence Unit (CIU) that was accused of snooping on fellow officers whom they threatened and intimidated, CRIB has been rather professional in its work.
Since its formation, CRIB unit headed by an officer in the rank of Commissioner of Police, has been credited with cracking high profile cases such as the murders of Tob Cohen, Catholic priest Michael Kyengo and several armed robberies.
Kinoti said action on some of the officers was taken as a result of information received in confidence through the recently launched toll-free crime reporting hotline.
While launching the service two weeks ago, Kinoti had disclosed that the call centre will be manned at all hours by specially vetted DCI officers from different fields.
Those manning the call centre are officers trained in customer relations and can speak several languages, including Somali, French, German, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and Italian.
Fear of disclosures
“The move which comes days to Christmas and New year holidays is meant to enhance intelligence collection and sharing capability of the DCI, to ensure wananchi enjoy their holidays and report crimes and suspected incidents of terrorism anonymously without fear of disclosures,” Kinoti said.
In a police signal signed by Simon Mwangi Wanderi on behalf of Kinoti, some of the CRIB officers were removed from the unit and deployed to the Regular Police, where they will now be forced to put on uniforms.
Uhuru launches Sh4bn forensic lab at DCI headquarters
Monday, June 13, 2022
Nation Media Group
Kenya will soon be at par with industrialised nations in investigations of complex cases following the commissioning of an ultra-modern Sh4 billion forensic lab in Nairobi yesterday.
President Kenyatta moved the nation closer to international standards in police work with the launch of the new National Forensics Laboratory at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters.
The facility will boost detectives’ effectiveness in solving crime as investigations will be concluded faster since the country will no longer have to send samples to South Africa for forensic analysis.
There have been delays in investigations as detectives have to wait for toxicology tests on samples shipped out of the country.
Crimes such as terrorism, robbery with violence, murder, cyber fraud, espionage, kidnappings, rape and defilement will now be solved using modern scientific methods that limit human interaction with evidence and allow for proper documentation for successful convictions.
The facility hosting 10 laboratories is expected to aid detectives in combating organised transnational crime, trafficking of drugs, illicit arms and wildlife trophies using scientific data.
The fingerprint identification lab will conduct forensic analysis on concealed fingerprint marks by linking suspects to crime scenes. This unit will also maintain custody of criminal records in the form of fingerprints and be tasked with issuance of certificates of good conduct.
The forensic chemistry lab will conduct microscopy of gun-shot powder residue on clothes and human skin to determine the holder of a firearm that has been used in crime. The unit will also conduct toxicological analysis of blood stains, urine and other specimens to establish traces of poison or drugs in the human body.
The unit will be able to easily extract soil samples from a suspect’s shoe and match it with the crime scene.
The forensic biology lab will help in DNA testing on a range of biological materials gathered from a rape or homicide scene or suspect that can act as evidence in court. It will also maintain a DNA Index System for use in solving future crimes.
The forensic imaging and acoustic lab will be tasked with the retrieval and processing of CCTV exhibits, audio-visual recordings, crime scene enactment through videography and analyse biometric voice recognition for use in court as exhibits and for record keeping.
The cybercrime and digital forensics lab will be used in collecting evidence from digital equipment like computers, digital cameras, memory cards, flash disks and other storage devices as well as help in recovering deleted short message texts, contact lists, videos and email sources.
A rise in mobile money transactions from Sh9.39 trillion in 2020 to Sh15.3 trillion in 2021 and internet penetration in the country have led to a shift in crime trends. SIM swapping, cybercrime and cryptocurrency fraud is now rampant.
Cybercrime has become a real threat to the economy as billions are lost annually by banks, saccos, microfinance institutions and banking fraud.
President Kenyatta directed the ministries of interior and ICT to come up with ways to strengthen the capacity of the cybercrime unit at the new lab within two weeks.
“The National Police Service should introduce mandatory and continuous professional development programmes on cybersecurity for all officers charged with criminal investigations,” he said.
Other labs are the document examination, ballistics examination, bomb and hazardous material disposal unit and forensic and a forensic evidence management laboratory all manned by experts trained both locally and internationally.
The Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU)’s databank for current and emerging terror suspects will also be hosted at the facility. It took 20 years to build the lab due to corruption scandals.
“This national endeavour seeks to increase to support our criminal justice system in conducting evidence-based investigations, enable quick re-enactment of crime as well as conviction of suspects through validated and internationally accepted means,” said President Kenyatta.
Interior CS Fred Matiang’i called for maximum utilisation of the facility as Chief Justice Martha Koome said it would enable investigating officers to produce evidence of high quality in courts.
“The dream for the country to have a national forensic facility that would help in solving crime scientifically has been elusive for many years. This is after initial plans to set up the lab failed to materialise several decades ago, with every attempt being marred by corruption allegations that gobbled up millions of taxpayers’ money,” said DCI boss George Kinoti.
The laboratory will also complement the services offered by the government chemist by reducing the turnaround time for samples picked for further investigations during post-mortem examinations.
The laboratory is the latest of President Kenyatta’s projects aimed at improving the welfare and capacity of security agencies to meet the fast changing demands of modern crime.
Others are security surveillance systems, hospital insurance for police and prison officers and two level four hospitals at Ruiru Prison Staff Training College and the sh10 billion National Police Referral Hospital in Nairobi both of which will be launched later this month cater to the medical needs of officers and their families.
PART II – UNIT PROFILE – CRIME RESEARCH AND INTELLIGENCE BUREAU (CRIB)
CRIB is a Unit within the Directorate of criminal Investigations – Kenya that was formed in the year 2018. It was formed as a result of the need to have a centralized unit that profile offenders and provide advisory.
Mandate
- Crime Research and Analysis
- Advisory
- Offender Profiling
ROLES
1. To collect crime data from all over the country and store it in a database
2. To identify crime patterns and trends and research on the same with a view to advising the stakeholders
3. To provide a link between investigative units in the country to enable them to share criminal data among themselves.
4. To integrate with other Government data repositories so as to enrich the offender profiling process.
5. To liaise with investigative and operational units by providing analytical assistance.
Kenya: Tech-Savvy Unit at the DCI Resolves Over 50 Cold Cases
19 JANUARY 2020
The Nation (Nairobi)
A new unit at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters is sending shivers down the spines of criminals. The crack team, which uses technology to unravel complex cases, has so far managed to resolve more than 50 cold cases.
VIOLENT CRIMINALS
The Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB), which was established by DCI boss George Kinoti, is credited with resolving decades-old crimes using DNA, forensics, ballistics and criminal profiling.
In one case, an eight-man gang’s 10-year reign of terror in Nairobi and neighbouring counties came to an end after CRIB specialists led detectives to the group’s hideout in Kitui.
The CRIB has so far linked the eight violent criminals to over 40 unresolved crimes from as far back as 2012, including the murder of a United Nations diplomat and a Dutch journalist in Gigiri. It has also linked the gang to a robbery at Citizen TV editor Linus Kakai’s Ongata Rongai residence, among others.
Four members of the gang, which has been linked to murder, robbery and kidnapping incidents in Nairobi, Kitui, Machakos, Kiambu and Kajiado counties, have been arrested while four others are being sought.
The four are being taken around the five counties for identification parades before being arraigned on robbery with violence, kidnapping and murder charges.
WIKILILYE GANG
The meticulous nature of their work has been made possible by the use of intelligence-based crime research and analysis.
Detectives from the unit tracked the Wikililye gang that first shot into the limelight in December 2012 when it committed one robbery in Nairobi and four others in Machakos.
After a decade-long reign of terror, police finally caught up with the gang at about 7.45pm on November 10, 2019, during a violent robbery incident at Nguuni market.
The five-man gang, armed with a gun, machetes and a metal rod, attacked Festus Musembi Wambua’s shop at Nguuni market and beat the shopkeeper before robbing him of Sh70,000, three mobile phones and Safaricom and Airtel airtime cards worth over Sh8,000. The gang then escaped in their getaway car towards Kitui.
Detectives from Mutomo, Kisasi, Katulani and Kitui who visited the crime scene later intercepted a silver Toyota 110 registration number KAT 570K at Wikililye about 50 kilometres from the robbery scene with four occupants namely Musyoka Musembi (42), Kasola Nzulya (46), Sylvester Onyango (35) and Peter Mwendwa (43).
BALLISTIC DATA
A Pachet sub-machine gun with three rounds of 9mm ammunition, a mobile phone and two machetes were also recovered. However, when the sub-machine gun and spent cartridges were taken for ballistic and forensic examination, it was established that the same gang had been involved in a similar robbery at Yongela market on November 9 2019 at about 9:30 pm. Four men armed with a sub-machine gun, a pistol and knife had confronted Kavatha Mutie and two clients at her shop and ordered them to surrender all the money.
The robbers stole Sh60,000 in cash, Safaricom airtime worth Sh7,500 and mobile phones and stuffed them into a bag before escaping on three motor cycles towards Mbitini.
Ballistic and forensic evidence yet again linked the same gang to a robbery with violence incident at Kisasi filling station on October 28 2019. The gang allegedly robbed Koki Mbithuka and her employees Anthony Musyoka and Kamute Muli of an unknown amount of money and a mobile phone. The robbers fired in the air to scare away residents before escaping.
According to CRIB’s forensic and ballistic data analysis, the same gang on October 22, 2019, at about 10.30pm, accosted Onesmus Munyao and his wife Angelina Kanyiva Munyao as they were entering their Kasevi village home at Mbitini location in Kisasi sub-county, Kitui County.
CRUDE WEAPONS
The couple, who were driving home in the company of Stephen Munyoki, Francis Muya and another person only identified as Nyamai, were confronted by a six-man gang armed with a rifle and other crude weapons who demanded all the money and other valuables at gunpoint.
They were robbed of Sh146,000 and six mobile phones by the gangsters who fired five times in the air as they escaped. One of the arrested suspects has since been identified as Peter Mwendwa Musyoka, who has previously served time at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison for robbery with violence and was released from prison in June 2019.
He hails from Mbeu Kaiso Ulungu in Ngangani location, Kitui County. The other suspect is Nicholas Musyoka Musembi from Usanga Katwala sub-location, Kanzau location, who was released from Kamiti Maximum Security Prison in May 2019 where he served time for robbery with violence.
LINKED TO MURDERS
A third suspect, Antony Kasyula Nzula from Nguluni sub-location in Mwala, Myanyani division, was also released from Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, in June 2019, after serving time for robbery with violence.
The fourth suspect, Sylvester Onyango Obonyo, hails from Upper Kakwajuok location in Homa Bay County. He was a mechanic in Kitui town.
One of the other suspects who is still at large is Bismarck Kiema Jane from Ithumula village. He is among those being sought together with 49-year-old Peter Kyalo Mbithuka from Kaseve village in Kitui Central. Following an analysis of evidence gathered from crime scenes, CRIB detectives have linked the Wikililye gang to the November 17, 2013 murder of Australian national Patrick Richer in Runda estate, house number 12, the murder of watchman Paul Moloten and injury of his Dutch boss Koen Toonen at Thigiri Rise in Gigiri on March 27, 2014. The gang was also behind the murder of Thomas Gwandaru, who was shot in the head in Gigiri and died on January 12, 2017.
Other crimes the gang has been linked to include the murder of Jared Ondiko, who was shot in Muthaiga estate as well as the murder of security guard Charles Ekelo in Langata on June 4, 2013 during a robbery.
STRING OF ROBBERIES
The same gang has also been linked to the attack on journalist Linus Kaikai’s Ongata Rongai residence on November 27, 2013 during which he was robbed, as well as the murder of Jackson Mwania Wahome in Machakos on December 13, 2012.
In 2012, the gang carried out one robbery in Nairobi and four in Machakos in December 2012. In 2013, the gang carried out one robbery in February in Kiambu, seven robberies in Nairobi in April, May, June, July and November 2013 and one in Kajiado.
In 2014, the gang carried out five robberies and murder in Nairobi and another robbery in Machakos. It has also been associated with one robbery in 2016 in Nairobi.
In 2017, the criminals are linked to one robbery in Nairobi in January, one in Kiambu in May and another in July in Nairobi. This is besides three robberies in Kitui in October and November 2019.
Other incidents include an attack on Hussein Changa and Erastus Maloba in Nairobi’s Industrial Area on April 14, 2012, during which the gangsters robbed them of more than two million shillings before shooting Maloba in the chest and thigh.
DATA ANALYSIS
On December 13, 2012, two members of the gang shot dead Jackson Mwania Wahome in Machakos. Ten days later, on December 22, the gangsters attacked M-Pesa operator Pauline Mwende at Tumba market in Mutituni, Machakos County, and robbed her of Sh75,000.
On April 24, 2013, the gangsters, using the same Pachet sub-machine gun attacked Kenya Medical Research Institute researcher Dr Nelly Mugo at Muthaiga North estate. On May 23, 2013, the gang yet again attacked Everett Aviation managing director Simon Everett in Karen and robbed him.
Five members of the gang on October 26, 2014 robbed Samuel Muiruri Wanyoike and his wife at their Syokimau estate residence. They have also been linked to the shooting of James Njoroge Njorori in the thigh in Gachie village, Kiambaa, Kiambu, on May 1, 2017.
CRIB detectives have also linked the same gangsters to the robbery of Onesmus Munyau at Kisasi in Kitui of Sh146,000. Mr Kinoti told the Sunday Nation that detectives are embracing science and technology in fighting crime, including research and data analysis.
CRIME SCENES
He revealed that the detectives will concentrate on intelligence, research and analysis using the Crime Research Information System (CRIS) that links all DCI offices countrywide to resolve crimes.
“My goal with the establishment of this unit is to ensure no crime ever goes unresolved. Evidence collected from crime scenes will undergo forensic, DNA and ballistic analysis to speedily assist investigating officers with their work. For a long time, police have stuck to the archaic procedures to resolve criminal cases, some of which have remained unresolved for decades. On the other hand, criminals have embraced technology in committing murder, cyber-crime and fraud. This will be a thing of the past,” Mr Kinoti said.
The team, which is credited with the Dusit Hotel terror attack and tycoon Tob Cohen’s murder investigation, is currently linked to all DCI offices countrywide and will synchronise crime data and link criminals to crime scenes.
COLLECT EVIDENCE
CRIB officers collect intelligence and evidence from scenes of crime, analyse the data, conduct criminal profiling, crime research and advice investigating officers handling the cases.
It will now be mandatory for police officers to collect spent cartridges, soil and DNA samples and triangulate mobile phone locations to place suspects at crime scenes, according to the DCI boss.
The team has been concentrating on terrorism, corruption, money laundering, drug trafficking, organised crime, robberies, kidnappings and cybercrime.
The officer in charge of CRIB, Mr Paul Mumo, says his unit has helped resolve many cold cases and current ones in the recent past include the Dusit hotel terror attack, the Westgate terror attack and the killing of transit truck drivers.
PART III – CRIB OPERATIONS
Mastermind behind Nakuru murders seized, police say
Friday, July 01, 2022
Nation Media Group
Police have arrested six people linked to the gruesome murders of women in Nakuru county.
Among them is a suspected serial killer identified as Evans Michori Kebwaro, who is said to be the mastermind in the killings of three women in Mawanga and Kiamaina in a span of two weeks.
According to a brief from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Mr Kebwaro was seized from his hideout in Keroka, Kisii County, on Thursday afternoon.
The capture followed a manhunt by detectives from the elite Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau in collaboration with special service units.
Detectives established that the suspect is a jailbird with a previous criminal record, having been convicted and served prison sentences.
After being arrested, Mr Kebwaro revealed the names of his accomplices – Julius Otieno, 27, Josephat Simiyu, 24, Mmbolo, 25, Isaac Kinyanjui, 18, and Makhola Wanjala, 25.
The five accomplices were arrested on Thursday night in Nakuru city’s Kivumbini, Flamingo and Bondeni slums, confirmed Anthony Sunguti, a criminal investigations officer-in-charge.
“Our officers rounded them up yesterday night in a sting operation after their names were revealed by the main suspects. We are still trying to gather more information about them but we suspect they are members of the criminal gang Confirm,” Mr Sunguti said.
Detectives believe Mr Kebwaro is the prime suspect in the horrific murders that were perpetrated in a similar pattern and reported to the Kiugoine Police Station between June 15 and 24.
The murders took place during the daytime, with the perpetrators raping their victims before setting their bodies on fire in their bedrooms.
The first case was reported on June 14 in Kiamaina, Bahati, where a woman identified as Grace Wanjiku, 20, was found burnt beyond recognition under a heap of bedding in a house that had been razed by a huge fire.
Another killing occurred seven days later involving a woman identified as Susan Wambui, whose body was found in her bedroom in a house in Kiamaina after neighbours put out a fire that had engulfed the entire house at around 4pm.
Her three-year-old child was rescued from the fire.
The latest incident was of a 23-year-old woman identified as Diana Opicho, who was found murdered in cold blood in her house in Mawanga.
The murders, which sparked online outrage, saw interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i visit Nakuru County on Wednesday. He held high-level meetings with top security chiefs and residents of Mawanga.
During the meeting, Dr Matiang’i announced changes to the top security leadership, including promoting Kasarani OCPD Peter Mwanzo and installing him as Nakuru County police commander, replacing Beatrice Kiraguri.
Dr Matiang’i also promised to wipe out the dreaded Confirm gang that has been terrorising residents of Nakuru.
How Suspected Kidnappers Were Seized From Their Nyandarua Hideout
The Nation
Detectives who raided a resort in Nyandarua to seize a man and his lover, the suspected masterminds of the kidnapping of a businesswoman in Nairobi, seemed to have prior information that the two would check-in there.
The Sunday morning arrest of the suspects, believed to have been key in the abduction and torture of Kamukunji-based businesswoman Hafsa Mohamed Luqman, caught everyone unawares, including the management of the popular Crystal Hotel in Magumu, Kinangop Constituency.
Going by witness statements following the arrest of Mr Jackson Njogu, 24, and his girlfriend, Hafsa Abdiat, 21, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations officers seemed to have laid an ambush much earlier and observed the two as they got into the premises.
Strategically located
A manager at the hotel told Nation shortly after the two guests had checked-in at midnight that he received a phone call requesting to book a room at the hotel located at the strategic Magumu junction.
It is around the intersection of the roads connecting to Thika, Njabini, Nairobi and Nakuru and a short distance to the Narok town road.
“A man called my mobile phone, called me by my name and politely requested to have a room for a few hours. He said he was in the company of a girlfriend,” said Mr James Mwaura, the manager of the hotel that is about 25 kilometres from Naivasha Town.
While opening the main gate, Mr Mwaura was confronted by seven men, who stormed the hotel and walked to the room where the two suspects were sleeping.
He followed the men and recalled that one remained at the door, saying that some more visitors were on their way.
Forced door open
But when they got to the room where the two were, they forced the door open and arrested the suspects.
“There was minimal commotion and drama. Only the tenants in the adjacent rooms heard the commotion after the lady screamed. But the officers politely requested our customers to get back to their rooms assuring them all was well,” said Mr Mwaura.
Outside, the hotel manager said he found three Subaru cars with more men waiting. At this point, it was evident they were police officers.
The men were undercover teams from the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau, backed up by their Special Service Unit counterparts.
The two suspects are said to have been drinking in a bar in a bushy area along the Magumu-Thika road.
Mr Njogu was dressed in a jeans and a jacket, but he seemed to have had more clothes inside the jacket. The woman was in brown jeans and had covered her face with a leso when they arrived at around midnight.
No luggage
Mr Mwaura said the suspects did not have any luggage.
The choice of the hideout was strategic because strangers are unlikely to raise any attention.
“It’s a small but very busy market with lots of visitors, especially those trading at the busy Soko Mpya market located a short distance from the hotel. One would easily have mistaken the two for traders,” said Mr Reuben Waweru, a trader.
“It appears the police were aware of what they wanted and how to get it. I was in the hotel the previous night. I noticed two unfamiliar faces whom I dismissed as traders, but those must have been the detectives. They looked calm politely asking for their drinks which they barely touched,” said Mr Antony Karanja, a trader and a regular customer at the hotel.
Magumu Chief Mr John Karoki said he was also not aware of the raid and arrest of the suspects.
“We are shocked; I have heard of no commotion or drama that comes with such arrests. The detectives must have done their homework,” said the chief.
DCI tweet
On Sunday morning, the DCI tweeted about the arrest of the suspects.
“This morning was an unlucky day for the suspects. They were smoked out of room number 8 at Crystal View Lodge, where they had imagined that our hawk-eyed detectives would never find them.”
The suspects are accused of siphoning Sh650, 000 from the victim’s bank accounts while she was in captivity.
Opened a bar
They then reportedly escaped to Kinangop and opened a bar, which they were operating.
Ms Luqman was rescued by detectives on Sunday last week from a dingy room in Matopeni, Kayole.
Earlier, family sources had said that on the day of the abduction, one of the suspects, Ms Abdi, had left Kamukunji in the evening in the company of Ms Luqman, heading to Kayole to inspect a new business they were planning to invest in.
However, Ms Luqman was attacked, blindfolded and taken to captivity.
Technology at centre of Sankale links to murder
September 30th, 2021
People Daily
Using the latest communication and forensic technology, detectives now believe that Court of Appeal Judge Sankale Ole Kantai convened several meetings to plan and execute the murder of Dutch tycoon Tob Cohen.
Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) arrested Justice Sankale in February in connection with the murder after a detailed forensic mobile data obtained from the deceased’s widow, Sarah Wairimu and his phone.
When the new information emerged, detectives summoned Sankale at least 12 times for interrogation and to record a statement on the same.
Detectives used his mobile phone call data to implicate him in the murder case in which Wairimu is the main suspect. She has been charged alongside businessman Peter Karanja.
In a forensic report seen by People Daily and filed in court by DCI, the judge and the widow had more than 30 telephone calls, texts and Whatsapp messages before and after Cohen’s murder.
Report details how the duo planned several meetings within and outside Nairobi as well as overseas to plan the murder and cover-up.
Three meetings
From the conversations, detectives now believe that Sankale was in a clandestine affair with Wairimu.
Detectives further claim one of the communications between the two love birds on the material day lasted six minutes.
Data link shows that all the communication through Wairimu was in Cohen’s residence on the material day.
“Between 16:30 hours and 20:00hours Sankale and Wairimu’s cellphone were communicating using Internet data.
DCI adds that on the day Cohen was murdered, the judge chose to spend the night within the vicinity of Chiromo Campus instead of his residence in Karen.
Sankale was linked to Parklands Sports Club by using his cellphone and M-pesa account to pay for bills at the said club.
He was also geo -located several times in the same club during the time covering the investigations.
DCI says they held three meetings that day. On the same date at around 22:30 hours, Karanja, who was not a member of the Club, parked his Subaru Forester registration KCF 356D inside the compound.
He is said to have then proceeded to Cohen’s house and joined Wairimu before the tycoon was murdered and his body buried in an underground water tank.
According to DCI, Karanja was among Cohen’s killers. The following day at around 1500hours, Karanja left Cohen’s residence and went back to Parklands Sports Club where he had parked his car and drove off to Gilgil.
On July 23, 2019 Sankale’s cellphone was geo-located within Chiromo Campus, from where he received a call from Wairimu. They were linked communicating on a daily basis.
Official driver
Following the death of Cohen, Justice Sankale and Wairimu are said to have embarked on a mission to destroy and erase any evidence of their involvement in the murder, an attempt which detectives foiled by restoring and recovering the evidence.
On July 26, 2019, Sankale paid Sh9,000 air ticket using his Mpesa account after the two had planned to fly to Kisumu on July 28,using Jetlink Safaris.
On July 28, 2018 Sankale and Wairimu flew from Nairobi to Kisumu and were booked in Acacia Hotel room number 405.
It is said the judge ordered his official police driver to pick up Wairimu from Kisumu International Airport in his official GK car to the hotel where they stayed for two days.
DCI has also tabled details showing how the judge interfered with police investigations by editing Wairimu’s statement.
They accuse Wairimu of refusing to co-operate with DCI investigators to an extent that she totally refused to give her phone pin Number.
Sankale, according to the detectives, aided Wairimu to procure an advocate with the intention of collapsing the murder case given his influence by virtue of the position he holds in the Judiciary.
“Petitioner aided Wairimu’s advocate to extract a copy of the late Tob Cohen’s genuine Will from the bundle of documents supplied by the Prosecution then took it after alteration to a private documents examiner, who declared it fake in an attempt to defeat the murder trial by showing that Wairimu had all the right to inherit Cohen’s property as a spouse,” the court papers.
Judge is said to have also aided the advocate acting for Wairimu to create content in YouTube with the intention of generating public sympathy and cover-up the heinous act.
Petitioner advised Wairimu, through a friend, Claire Wangari, to get a title document for a land worth at least Sh2 million with a current valuation certificate.
DCI further says the judge facilitated and influenced the issuance of court orders allowing Wairimu to attend the postmortem at Chiromo mortuary and attend Cohen’s burial to give a narrative that she is a victimised widow.
Judge is also said to have accompanied Wairimu to Italy for her daughter’s wedding.
Shock of missing children found murdered as cases of abduction rise
The Standard
It all began on Tuesday with the arrest of a suspect in connection with the disappearance of two boys in Biafra, within Eastleigh area in Nairobi County.
Within hours of his arrest, the 20-year-old man led DCI officers from the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau to a spot where he claimed to have dumped bodies of two boys aged 12 and 13 in a thicket near the Kenya School of Government in Kabete.
One of the bodies was identified by the family of a missing child yesterday at the City Mortuary as that of Junior Mutuku Musyoka, 12. The other body is yet to be identified.
Hours after the heartbreaking find, yet another body of a boy was discovered in the same area by police. By the time of going to press last evening, that body – which brought the total number of those discovered in Nairobi yesterday to three – was yet to be identified.
A grief-stricken Felister Wayua was still trying to wrap her mind around the callous acts of those that killed her son, whom the family reported missing on June 30. While Wayua’s family had in some way found closure in the search for their child, that of Charles Opindo remains on tenterhooks, as their son still unaccounted for.
Musyoka and Opindo, both football fans and residents of Biafra in Eastleigh, are said to have often played football together at a nearby field, and disappeared around the same time. Upon news of the discovery of the bodies, Opindo’s family also headed to the City Mortuary but would later confirm that the body brought to the morgue alongside that of Musyoka was not of their son.
Sam Opindo an uncle to Charles said after visiting City Mortuary they had established that the body was not their son.
“It’s not him. We have examined the body carefully,” said Sam.
In Nairobi alone, police are hoping to unravel the mysterious disappearance of at least 10 children who have been reported missing in the last six months, according to police sources.
Yesterday, police were linking the happenings in Nairobi to another event over 300 kilometres away in Moi’s Bridge, a small town straddled by Uasin Gishu, Kakamega and Trans Nzoia counties.
Here, a team of detectives drawn from the DCI, the homicide department and forensics experts dispatched from Nairobi were busy documenting scenes where separate murders of young girls are said to have occurred between 2019 and 2021. Accompanying the team was a suspect who led officers to at least five different scenes of crime where he confessed to have killed and later dumped bodies of children.
Dressed in a white overall, the suspect pointed out the exact positions where he allegedly murdered the children, while detectives took photos and videos that would aid in completing investigations. Families of some of the deceased, too stunned to say anything, quietly followed the unfolding events.
Majority of the scenes pointed out by the suspect were bushes near maize plantations. According to an officer who sought anonymity, the suspect is a habitual offender who had been in prison for related crimes for 15 years before being set free after completing his jail term.
He was arrested on June 16 after CCTV footage showed him in the company of his latest victim, 13-year-old Linda Cherono. Cherono had gone missing on June 11, only for her body to be found on June 15 near Baharini dam within Moi’s Bridge. The suspect is said to have been targeting young girls under the age of 15.
At the onset of investigations, County Criminal Investigation Officer Ali Adan told The Standard that local residents interviewed at Moi’s Bridge had mentioned the man as the main suspect. Another victim, Mary Elusa, 14, went missing on December 15, 2020, and her body discovered the next day.
Grace Njeri, 12, was reported to have disappeared on May 21, 2020, and her body found on June 18, 2020, at Soronoi farm. Another victim, Stancy Nabiso Achieng, 10, also went missing on December 31, 2019, and her body recovered from River Nzoia on January 1, 2020. Police say there was evidence of defilement in all the cases.
Back in Nairobi, Wayua a mother of four, narrated how her son simply vanished about two weeks ago.
Musyoka, who had returned home from school that day, was a big soccer fan and often played with other children at an open field near his home. It was after a football match that Musyoka failed to return home on the material day.
After unsuccessfully searching for him in the neighborhood, Wayua reported the matter to police who promised to conduct investigations. But then came the strange phone calls, she says, from a man who claimed to have abducted Musyoka.
The caller demanded Sh50,000 to release the boy. Wayua, who ekes a living from menial jobs such as washing clothes in her neighborhood, could not raise the amount. She pleaded with the man to release her son, in vain. Her only hope was that DCI officers at Shauri Moyo would help rescue her son from his captors.
Jecinta Nduku, Wayua’s sister-in-law, travelled from her rural home in Masii, Machakos County, to help in the search. Nduku said at first, she thought the callers were conmen out to exploit their plight. But things became scary when the caller warned them that he would kill the boy.
“We could not raise the amount that they wanted. We only kept briefing the DCI, hoping that our son would be rescued,” said Nduku.
Wayua speaks of the days filled with fervent prayers that her story would have a happy ending. “I have been praying every day and hoping that my son would be found alive until today (Wednesday) when DCI officers broke the devastating news,” she said at the Shauri Moyo DCI offices where she recorded her statement.
In the same Biafra neighbourhood, the family of Opindo who went missing a day after Musyoka, is still searching for him. Opindo, 13, was last seen playing with other children at an open field in the area on July 1. The people holding Opindo called the family demanding Sh30,000 to free the boy.
Police have linked the man arrested in connection with the Nairobi murders to the kidnap syndicate in Moi’s Bridge, believed to be behind the abduction and murder of 12 children in the Rift Valley region. Police said the other man arrested in Nairobi had confessed to the murders and even provided details of how he clinically strangled the minors after failing to secure ransom from their families.
Sources familiar with the investigations said the suspect lured the boys from the field where they played football.
The suspect is said to have been visiting the grounds where Musyoka and his friends played football. “He (suspect) says he had become friends with the boys and that is how he got close to them,” said an officer familiar with the case.
Buru Buru DCI Chief Jackson Muriuki yesterday said his officers were trailing more suspects. On Tuesday, police unmasked the identity of the principal suspect through forensic analysis of the calls made to the families of Musyoka and Opindo.
Police traced the man to his rented house in Kitengela, Kajiado County. Upon arrest, he led the DCI to Kabete where he had dumped the children’s bodies.
Detectives arrest man alleged to be serial robber, rapist over Jennifer Wambua’s murder
The Standard
The DCI detectives have arrested a key suspect in the murder of National Lands Commission (NLC) deputy director of communication, Jennifer Wambua.
Wambua went missing from Ardhi House on March 12, only to be found dead, and her body dumped in Ngong Forest on March 15.
Peter Mwangi Njenga, alias Ole Sankale, was arrested after several weeks of investigations and forensic analysis, the DCI said.
The probe took a concerted effort by the DCI detectives, Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) officers, Cybercrime detectives and the Special Service Unit (SSU) officers.
“The agencies have finally made a major breakthrough in nailing the main suspect involved in the gruesome murder of Jennifer Wambua,” the DCI said on Facebook on Friday night, May 7.
The agency says Njenga committed the act with others, who are yet to be found.
“The detectives, through criminal intelligence, first forensically placed the suspect at the scene of crime,” the DCI said.
The investigative body says eye-witnesses also saw Njenga with Wambua on March 12 before she went missing, only to be found dead three days later.
“By conducting a thorough combing of the scene, detectives managed to pick crucial exhibits,” said the DCI.
“The forensic results, which are out, positively match the suspect,” said the DCI.
Authorities say Njenga “indeed interacted and spent quite some time with Wambua at the location where her body was later discovered (Ngong Forest)”.
Wambua had been raped, a postmortem report indicated.
Police say the location, Ngong Forest, is “often visited by pilgrims for spiritual intentions”.
“Detectives established that the suspect preyed on [the] deceased as she prayed, before he made his move to sexually assault her and strangle her to death,” said the DCI.
Peter Mwangi Njenga, according to the investigative agency, had a criminal past.
“Our criminal data system confirmed the suspect had committed similar offences using the same modus operandi of committing robbery and thereafter repeatedly, sexually abusing the victims by raping and killing them,” stated the DCI.
“Both the principal criminal registrar records and prisons where the suspect served jail concurred.”
The DCI said Njenga committed other similar offences at the same site on separate occasions in the past.
“In 1996, he was charged with stealing and was further charged three times with the offences of robbery with violence and rape. In January 15, 2003, he was convicted and sentenced to death at Kibera Senior Resident’s Magistrate Court,” said the DCI.
“How he won his freedom remains a mystery, which the [DCI] detectives are currently engaged in demystifying.”
Tender row linked to murder of Caroline Wanjiku
February 27, 2021
Nation Media Group
A multimillion-shilling tender for the construction of walkways is at the heart of investigations on the kidnapping, torture and killing of businesswoman Caroline Wanjiku Maina, whose body was found by herders in Kajiado county two weeks ago.
While detectives believe the former banker was abducted by her business partners, it is still not clear who of the four suspects murdered Wanjiku and where the killing took place.
Placing a suspect at the scene of the crime and knowing the motive are important in getting a conviction in the event of the prosecution lacking direct witnesses.
Body found
Wanjiku’s decomposing body was found on February 16, four days after her family found out that she had gone missing, hours after she was said to have been duped by one of the suspects to meet him for a business deal.
Mr Edwin Otieno Odiwuor, Mr Samwel Okoth Adinda, Mr Stevenson Oduor Ouma and Ms Mercy Gitiri Mongo were arrested and ordered to remain in custody for 10 days to give police time to complete investigations into the killing.
The 10 days elapsed yesterday, but none of four was charged.
Police bond
Instead, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) asked Kibera Senior Principal Magistrate Esther Boke to release Mr Oduor and Ms Mongo on a police bond.
This was after their lawyers Shadrack Mwinzi and Cliff Ombeta argued that the State had no compelling reasons to continue holding them.
“I request this court to allow our clients to be represented by their counsel when they are required,” Mr Mwinzi said.
The State asked to be allowed to hold Mr Otieno and Mr Okoth for 10 more days as it concludes investigations into the killing, a request which was granted.
“The investigations are not complete as we need to record more statements from witnesses,” DCI detective Earnest Kinyua said in a sworn affidavit.
“Police need time to get a report from the Integrated, Control and Communication Centre also known as the IC3 system and CCTV footage from the bank where the victim was last seen. We also need to get details of her bank accounts.”
The IC3 is a system of cameras installed on major roads in Nairobi and Mombasa to help police to identify and fight crime.
The system’s Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras can trace the movement of a vehicle. It helps police track stolen cars and solve complex crimes.
For this particular case, investigators are interested in the movements of a silver Toyota Axion registration number KCY 499W belonging to Wanjiku, which was found at the gate of Gatina Primary School, Kawangware, on February 13.
Police are also interested in the movement of a black Toyota Crown KCN 300D belonging to Mr Otieno.
The saloon is said to have picked the victim from Ngara estate on February 12, the day she vanished.
Additionally, police want to trace the movements of a white Mercedes Benz E350 registration number KCW 179G belonging to Mr Okoth.
Investigators told the Nation that they believe the car was used to dump Wanjiku’s body at a thicket in Paranai, Kajiado county.
While the police initially said the four suspects were in the Toyota Crown in Ngara and were involved in the kidnapping, the release of Ms Mongo and Mr Oduor could be an indicator of the investigations taking a different direction.
Police rarely release a murder suspect on bond unless they believe they are not directly involved in the crime or if they plan to use them as prosecution witnesses.
Mr Otieno and Mr Okoth will most likely be charged with the kidnapping, torture and killing of the businesswoman.
“We shall arraign them for murder,” DCI boss George Kinoti told the Nation yesterday.
“We are attempting to place them at the scene of the crime using forensic technology. This will form strong evidence that cannot be tampered with in case they are given bond before we file the charges.”
A forensic sweep has been done on the three cars.
Police want to trace any DNA samples that will match those to be collected from the main suspects and the murdered woman.
Additionally, detectives are analysing data from the victim’s phones and those belonging to the suspects to find out if there were any disputes between them that could have led to the killing.
Still, a few questions remain unanswered.
Where did Wanjiku meet her death since it is apparent that she was not killed in Paranai? Why was she killed? Where is the murder weapon?
Though the victim is believed to have been kidnapped using Mr Otieno’s Toyota Crown, the two main suspects say the Mercedes Benz was used to transport the body to the dumping site.
It is, however, not known who drove Wanjiku’s car to Kawangware.
Investigators told the Saturday Nation that the businesswoman’s vehicle was found when her relatives asked a tracking company to trace it. Once the car was found, a man identified as Isaiah Mungeria reported the matter to Muthangari police station.
The case was then taken over by DCI Nairobi Area Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB), which started tracking the last people who communicated with Wanjiku by phone prior to her disappearance.
The first to be arrested was Mr Otieno. Police say he lured Wanjiku to Ngara on the pretext that he would assist her get shares for a sacco.
In between making calls to Wanjiku, Mr Otieno also made a number of calls to Mr Okoth, Mr Oduor and Ms Gitiri.
The phones belonging to the suspects were triangulated as having been around Ngara on the day Wanjiku vanished.
Triangulation is a technique used by investigators to track a phone’s geographical location by measuring the time delay that a signal takes to return to the nearest transmission tower.
On being arrested Mr Otieno and Mr Okoth took police officers to where the body had been dumped.
According to a postmortem conducted on Wednesday evening, Wanjiku died from head and back injuries.
She also had bruises on her hip and hands.
With police having in their custody two people considered to be the prime suspects in the murder, focus has shifted to establishing why exactly the crime was committed.
People aware of Wanjiku’s dealings say she was not good at settling debts and appeared to owe everyone around her some money.
After quitting her job at a bank, Wanjiku briefly operated a salon at China Town in Hurlingham, Nairobi.
“She had issues with paying her staff, suppliers and the landlord. Wanjiku was later kicked out after falling out with everybody,” a person who knew her told the Nation.
“Very few people trusted her. Those who did lost their money.”
Following the death of the hairdressing business, she ventured into real estate and attempted to get into the lucrative world of government tenders.
With no money, Wanjiku formed a company with the four people believed to have killed her, one of them being her boyfriend.
The company, whose name we cannot publish since its structure and finances are being investigated, received Sh20 million from a county government in the days leading to Wanjiku’s disappearance.
The money was payment for construction of sidewalks.
On interrogation the suspects told police that after receiving the money, there was a dispute on how it would be split.
Wanjiku being the bank signatory, refused to part with what the others thought rightfully belonged to them.
Wanjiku is said to have insisted that she deserved more because it was through her efforts that the company won the tender.
On the day she disappeared she had withdrawn Sh350,000 from Co-operative Bank which she intended to give to Mr Otieno.
It turned out to be her last business transaction. The matter will come up for hearing on March 8.
Detectives Rescue Kidnapped Boy, Arrest Key Suspect
KNA
Detectives in Naivasha have rescued a four-year-old boy who went missing last week in Thika town after he was allegedly abducted.
The team of sleuths and the local police later nabbed the main suspect behind the abduction, who is said to be a houseboy at the boy’s grandparent’s home in Murang’a.
The Detectives said the suspect, Charles King’ori alias ‘Delvin Maina’, was the last person seen with the boy, Liam Nguchwa on June 2nd in Thika town before he was reported missing.
Kingori is alleged to have travelled to Naivasha town on Thursday, June 3rd with the boy where he sought for his accommodation at his aunt’s home, alleging that the child was his, from an earlier marital affair and that he was seeking for his support.
According to area DCI officer, Adan Hassan, Kingori’s Aunt became suspicious about the case on Monday after media reports about a missing child emerged, detailing a clear description which had a striking resemblance with that of the boy under her care.
Hassan added that it is from that information, the woman reported the case to the police from where a coordinated rescue mission was planned by a multi-agency team of detectives from the Director of Criminal Investigations, Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau and Special Police Service Unit.
According to the investigator, the boy was rescued safely at the suspect hideout with no injuries inflicted on him and was later reunited with his parents who had been briefed of the rescue mission.
Hassan added that the police then narrowed on the suspect who, on learning of the police arrest mission, visited a local salon where he had his hair braided to conceal his face but unknown to him the detectives had zeroed on him.
The DCI revealed that Kingori had tried to solicit a Sh200,000 ransom from Liam’s parents with an initial amount of Sh40,000 having been sent to him.
The DCI said the suspect was nabbed with several SIM cards in his custody and will be charged once the investigations are complete.
Hassan lauded the public for sharing crucial information that led to the successful rescue of the child and subsequent arrest of the suspect.
Liam’s mother, Agnes Muthoni, said her family is grateful to reunite with their son while applauding the police for their coordinated efforts in unravelling the abduction and rescuing her son.
According to his father, Eric Maina, their son is fine with no harm inflicted on him, adding that the suspect kidnapped the boy to solicit money from the family.
2 Gangsters Gunned Down in Embakasi, Firearm Linked to Recent Murder Recovered
Capital FM (Nairobi)
Nairobi — Two gangsters have been shot dead and a firearm recovered following a night raid by Nairobi-based detectives drawn from different specialized units in an operation to flush out criminals in the city.
A statement issued by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Saturday stated that an Austrian made Glock pistol and 29 live rounds of 9mm caliber ammunition were recovered from one of the gangsters during the operation.
The Friday night operation was led by Nairobi’s Operations Branch and the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) together with the support of officers from Buru Buru and Embakasi police divisions.
“The thugs were accosted by detectives in the nick of time as they finalized their plans to stage attacks within Embakasi, throwing their evil plans into disarray. The thugs who were initially three scattered into different directions shooting at the detectives frenziedly. But our men responded with precision, fatally wounding two of them on the spot as the third miscreant staged a daring escape into Mukuru kwa Njenga settlements” the DCI said.
The third suspect managed to escape from the hands of the detectives with bullet injuries after he jumped into a sewer line.
The DCI said that preliminary tests indicated that the recovered firearm had been used in an earlier robbery incident which left one person dead.
“After preliminary ballistic tests, it was established that the same firearm had been used to commit various robberies in the city, including the cold-blooded murder of one Monica Katee, who was shot five times at Mukuru kwa Njenga, four days ago,” they said.
The DCI stated that the fallen thugs were also linked to a series of robberies that have been targeting mobile money lending outlets within Nairobi’s Eastlands suburbs, adding that one of the gangsters identified as Kevin Maruga, was positively identified by some of the victims.
A 2018 Nairobi County Crime Outlook study released by the National Crime Research Center showed robbery with violence incidents accounted for 30.2 per cent of crimes while muggings accounted for 68.8 per cent of crimes.
The report showed the incidents averaged 19.1 per cent of the national crime rate.
Kenya: How MKU Female Student Was Dramatically Rescued From Murderous Officer
The Nation (Nairobi)
A female university student who was on the brink of being killed by her lover was dramatically rescued after police officers laid a trap and arrested the prison warder who had travelled to Thika from Meru.
Constable Edwin Omuse, who is stationed at the Kangeta GK prison in Imenti, Meru, left work on Tuesday evening without informing his superiors. He was armed with a G3 rifle belonging to the government, which he hid in a gunny bag.
Another prison warder Sergeant Benjamin Ndunda, who was off duty, managed to spot Constable Omuse at the Kangeta trading centre carrying the gunny bag and immediately noticed that it had a gun inside.
He called the duty officer Caroline Wambui and informed her what he had seen.
The duty officer in turn reported the matter at the Kangeta Police Station. It was recorded under OB Number 29/24/8 and a manhunt was immediately launched for the officer who had deserted duty.
It, however, later emerged that Constable Omuse had divulged to one of his friends that his girlfriend had defrauded her Sh900,000 and that he intended to kill her as a result.
“Efforts to trace the warder gone rogue in Meru became fruitless after he disappeared from the prison, where he had been assigned sentry duties. The last eyewitnesses who saw Omuse in Meru, told detectives that they had spotted him on a fast-moving motorbike,” said the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) about the matter.
Assembled his firearm
“In a bid to save the girlfriend’s life, detectives from the Special Service Unit supported by their Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau counterparts, immediately swung into action, and through intelligence managed to trace her in her house located at Kisii estate in Thika town,” explained the DCI.
The female student was moved to safety by detectives. The detectives then waited for Constable Omuse who arrived at 5pm on Wednesday. After using a spare key to enter the house, he assembled his firearm and made a call to his girlfriend asking her for her whereabouts.
The detectives immediately moved in silently without firing a single shot, arrested Omuse, and then recovered the firearm, which was loaded with 20 rounds that had been hidden underneath a sofa in the sitting room.
The Wednesday events come just a month after police rescued a young woman who had been lured by a man she did not know but conductors in the bus she was travelling in to Mombasa noticed that something was amiss.
Following the events in Thika, the DCI has warned female students against getting into relationships with older men, which they said are motivated by monetary promises.
“The DCI strongly warns and cautions the female youth particularly those in the Universities, Colleges and other tertiary institutions to be wary of predators whose bond of love is premised on monetary cords that are meant to temporarily win their affection. These cords suffer monetary volatility which lead to suicidal and animalistic psychological attacks,” said the DCI. “Take time to know him and do due diligence.”
Police call for help in identifying killer
The Star
12 March 2021
The mystery surrounding the identity of a man who snatched a gun from a police officer and shot dead two people before he was lynched in Kisumu town deepened after a search on his records returned negative.
Detectives now want the public to help them identify the suspect. They published images that were captured while he was in action against innocent civilians on March 5.
They believe he could be an extremist and he had received training on how to handle weapons. “DCI detectives from the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau alongside their Anti Terror counterparts have reason to believe that the assailant was not just the ordinary criminal, but had prior to the attack received training in tactical maneuvers and weapon handling,” the detectives said in a statement.
Preliminary forensic investigations, they added indicate that the assailant’s details cannot be traced in respective government records.
“The three identity cards that were found in his possession belong to other individuals who have since been identified.”
So far, nobody has come forward to claim his body or identify him as a relative, further complicating the investigations.
Before making the conclusion, police had been asked to get more samples and retake fingerprints of the man who snatched a pistol from a traffic cop, injured the officer and killed two people.
The incident happened on March 5 at the Kisumu bus park. The identification process hit a brick wall after the specimens collected earlier turned defective.
Officials at the National Registration Bureau said samples were defective and not enough to help identify the man. Police had difficulties in picking samples because the suspect had been badly burnt when he was lynched by a mob.
Anti-terrorism police officers who joined investigations into the incident said they managed to lift three fingerprints from the suspect after a rigorous process.
They again went to the mortuary and lifted more samples on Wednesday after the NRB complained the earlier ones were not sufficient.
Officials aware of the developments said they so far do not know him and no family has come forward to claim the body.
A search on his pockets led to the recovery of three national identification documents bearing different names. One identified him as Glen Ochieng Ojwang, which some locals said believed to be his.
Others were Joseph Otieno Masaka and Joseph Odeny Mutula. A team of detectives has so far been sent to Suna, Migori county to establish if the said Ochieng is the one who died in the attack.
The Glen Ochieng Ojwang whose identity card was recovered comes from the area and is a former student at the Moi University, officials said. Police have since concluded the identification cards were stolen.
The shooter was wearing a balaclava on his head, with only his eyes visible and gloves on both hands. Officials from National Counter Terrorism Centre said they do not know if the shooter was a lone wolf, locally radicalised, stressed and what motivated him.
“It is unfortunate he died. We would have wanted to talk to him and understand why he did that. We don’t know if he acted alone or was with some accomplices and why,” Masisi Kiilu of NCTC said. Officials said they fear given that the shooter could be a returnee from Somalia or a terror group or radicalised.
Cases of terrorism and violent extremism have been on the decline due to efforts by the government and other agencies to tame the trend. It is estimated that tens of al Shabaab returnees are in the country.
Homegrown radicalisation in Kenya is on the rise given al Shabaab’s growth in neighbouring Somalia. Kenya has become a prime location for recruitment and radicalisation for Al-Shabaab. In 2012, it was reported that al Shabaab was attracting a large number of Kenyan converts to Islam.
In December 2014, it was estimated that Kenyans comprised around 25 per cent of al Shabaab. Some of the al Shabaab returnees end up in prisons where they conduct more recruitment hence the measures to contain the trend. This comes as the prisons department has increased efforts to contain radicalism in the prisons.
As part of efforts to contain radicalisation, Kenya Prisons Service has received a handbook that will help them manage the crisis among prisoners. This is because reports showed the penal institutions have become breeding grounds for violent extremists.
The report was compiled by the prisons and Legal Resources Foundation Trust to offer a strategy for preventing and countering radicalization to violent extremism among prisoners. The report offers detailed risk assessment tools for prison managers and best approaches to housing violent extremist offenders and how to manage them without infringing on their human rights.
It calls for demilitarisation of how violent extremist offenders are handled to ensure they remain a source of intelligence and reformed. It adds this should be initiated by a proper risk assessment of prisoners, in a bid to inform who poses what level of risk.
“The proper risk assessment of prisoners is one of the fundamental components of good prison management policies. The management of prisoners cannot be successfully undertaken without assessments of the risks they pose,” reads the report. On the housing crisis, the report says prison managers will have to determine whether to separate violent extremisms offenders from the rest of the prisoners.
It adds separating prisoners who are extremists from the general population could make it easier for authorities to manage and reduce the risk of them radicalising others to violence, but warns that it poses a threat. “Separation may elevate their status in the eyes of other prisoners or groups in the prison population, which plays into the narrative of radicalisers, who either feel special or persecuted,” the report reads. In the shooting spree, six people including a traffic police officer sustained serious injuries. The officer was shot in the pelvic and the bullet exited through the stomach.
Two of the victims including a Ugandan national succumbed to injuries in the hospital. Police said the traffic police was controlling traffic at the roundabout near Kisumu Boys High School when he was accosted by the shooter. He disarmed the officer and the officer struggled with him but was overpowered. Police said the perpetrator entered the bus park and was shooting aimlessly before entering Yasmin hotel.
One officer attached to the bus park pursued him up and grabbed him and with the help of the members of the public he was subdued and a Ceska pistol with no rounds of ammunition recovered from him as he had used them all. He was however subjected to mob lynching and died immediately.
The new detective in town: How DCI is using tech to crack crime
1st September 2020
In July last year, Dutch tycoon Tob Cohen was reported missing.
This is after the former Philips Electronics East Africa chairman Cohen complained of harassment and denial of his conjugal rights by his estranged wife.
Cohen, 71, was reported missing on July 19 but Directorate of Criminal Investigation detectives failed to locate him.
Cohen’s wife Sarah Wairimu had claimed that her husband had travelled to Thailand for urgent medical attention but a source at the Immigration Department said they had combed through all passenger manifestos for outbound flights for possible dates but Cohen’s name was not in any.
The senior official said Cohen was still in the country as there was no evidence indicating that he had left through any of the official exit points.
His phone was reported to be off since he went missing.
After sleepless nights for the DCI as they tried to crack the mystery around Cohen’s whereabouts, his body was discovered two months later dumped in a septic tank at his residence.
Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti described the murder as gruesome, saying the killers took their time to commit the crime.
Kinoti said Cohen was bound face, hands, neck before he was murdered with a postmortem revealing that the killers smashed his skull, dislocated his leg and broke his hands as he struggled.Detectives carry the body of Dutch tycoon Tob Cohen at Farasi Lane in Spring Valley on Friday, September 13, 2019.
In the debut edition of ‘The DCI’ newsletter, Kinoti says Cohen’s murder is just an example of complex cases he and his officers have to crack on a daily basis.
Kinoti said if it were not for the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) unit, such a breakthrough would not have come forth.
The CRIB is a team of elite detectives that operate under firm and strict instructions to resolve complex decades-old crimes through the use of new technology including DNA, forensics, ballistics, crime research and criminal profiling.
The National Police Service has been on the spot over the years for laxity in responding to emergency calls.
This has in most cases left many residents across the country exposed to criminal activities by well-coordinated gangs.
These gangs after striking, disappear into thin air until their next attack, leaving crime detectives scratching their heads.
For instance, in 2012, a United Nations diplomat and a Dutch journalist were killed in Nairobi’s Gigiri area.
The trail of the suspected killers soon went cold and all leads didn’t yield anything substantial.
A few months later, a daring gang carried out a robbery at Citizen TV’s Director of Strategy and Innovation Linus Kaikai’s residence in Nkoroi in Kajiado County and once again, the police were unable to arrest any suspects in connection with the robbery.A screen shot of the cover page of the newsletter
About 150 kilometres from Nairobi, members of a gang that detectives soon discovered was known as Wikililye gang attacked Festus Wambua’s shop at Nguuni market.
Armed with a gun, pangas and a metal rod, they beat up the shopkeeper before robbing him of Sh70,000, three mobile phones and airtime worth Sh80,000.
The robbers then fired in the air to scare away residents before escaping in their getaway car towards Kitui.
Kinoti says with homicide and organized crimes in the country becoming more complex and even harder to solve, he noticed the gaps in terms of crime research that impaired seriously on criminal intelligence and general crime management in the country.
It is from here that he decided to take action.
In April 2018, he personally undertook the task of establishing and overseeing the formation of the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau.
Based at the DCI headquarters, the team set off by jointly developing a web-based Crime Information System (CRIS) with developers from the Information and Communication Technology Authority (ICTA).
The system links all DCI offices countrywide and has a comprehensive criminal database for all offenders both known and unknown. As a tech-savvy unit, the team immediately embarked on collecting intelligence and evidence from scenes of crime, analyzing the data, conducting criminal profiling and research on crime patterns.
The team also started liaising with investigative and operational units by providing analytical assistance.
Armed with new information, the unit embarked on attempts to crack a trail of complex old crime cases that had gone cold.
According to the newsletter, the first case to crack was the eight-man gang that had terrorized Nairobi and surrounding counties more than ten years ago.
“Relying on research, profiling and ballistics evidence, the unit arrested four members of the gang with the remaining four still on the run,” reads part of the interview.
The four were taken around the five counties for identification parades and then arraigned on robbery with violence, kidnapping and murder charges The next gang to be brought to book was the Wikililye gang.
At about 7.45pm on November 10, 2019, a gang attacked a trader at Nguuni market.
Detectives arrived at the scene of crime and later intercepted a car at Wikililye about 50 kilometres from the robbery scene with four occupants The Detectives recovered a Pachet sub-machine gun with three rounds of 9mm, a mobile phone and two machetes.
When the machine gun and spent cartridges were taken for ballistic and forensic examination, it was established that the same gang had been involved in a similar robbery at Yongela market on November 9, 2019 at about 9.30pm.
Ballistic and forensic evidence yet again linked the same gang to a robbery with violence incident at Kisasi filling station on October 28, 2019.
The gang was also linked to an October 23, 2019 robbery where Onesmus Munyao and his wife Angelina Kanyiva were accosted at about 10.30pm as they were entering their Kasevi village home at Mbitini in Kisasi sub-county, Kitui County.
They were confronted by a six-man gang armed with a rifle and other crude weapons and robbed of Sh46,000 and six mobile phones. The gangsters fired five times in the air as they escaped.
Kinoti says the unit identified the Wikililye gang members as Peter Musyoka, Nicholas Musembi and Anthony Nzula who had just been released from the Kamiti Maximum Security prison when they served a jail term for robbery with violence.
According to the DCI boss, further analysis of evidence gathered from the crime scenes CRIB detectives linked the Wikililye gang to the November 17, 2013 murder of Australian national Patrick Richer in Runda estate and Thomas Gwandaru who was shot in the head in Gigiri and died on January 12, 2017.A crime research expert at the National Police Service Laboratory
“Although the unit has only been in existence for slightly over two years, it has been remarkably committed to its call of duty and is carrying out extensive research and profiling various criminal gangs across the country with tremendous success,” he said.
Kinoti says he is impressed with the meticulous nature of the unit’s work which is truly re-defining the parameters of complex modern-day crime investigation in our country through the use of intelligence-based crime research, analysis and relevant technology.
“My goal with the establishment of this unit is to ensure that no crime ever goes unresolved. Evidence collected from crime scenes will undergo forensic, DNA and ballistic analysis to speedily assist investigating officers with their work,” he said.
He added, “For a long time, police have stuck to the archaic procedures to resolve criminal cases, some of which have remained unresolved for decades. On the other hand, criminals are embracing technology in committing murders, cyber crimes and fraud. This will now be a thing of the past”.
Today it is mandatory for police officers to collect spent cartridges, soil and DNA samples and triangulate mobile phone locations to place suspects at crime scenes.
The unit is currently concentrating on terrorism, corruption, money laundering, drug trafficking, organized crime, robberies, kidnappings and cybercrime.
Kinoti says the creation of this unit has indeed enabled the DCI to be always ahead of perpetrators of modern-day complex crimes and has resolved more than fifty serious crimes that had hitherto remained unresolved for decades.
Gang behind crime in Murang’a arrested in operation by special squad
Four people allegedly linked to 25 kidnappings, robberies and rape in Central Kenya have been arrested by a special squad that spent weeks trailing them.
The three men and a woman are accused of committing the offences in Laikipia, Muranga and Nyeri counties.
The woman also has a murder case pending before a Nanyuki court while her accomplices have robbery with violence cases pending in other courts.
Directorate of Criminal Investigations boss George Kinoti said the gang is linked to robberies and a rape case.
Eight of the cases were reported in Mathira Sub-County.
So far, police have received reports of four victims from Makuyu, three from Kandara, and eight from Mathira. Sagana and Mathioya have four and three cases respectively.
Kinoti said investigations were conducted by a team of officers from the Special Services Unit and the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau following several reports of violent robberies in the region.
“We appeal to the public, anyone who may have fallen victim of the gang to report to the nearest police station,” Kinoti added.
Director of Operations at the DCI headquarters Henry Ondiek said the female member of the gang was used to lure unsuspecting victims before her accomplices could strike.
“The woman was always armed with a toy pistol. She lures unsuspecting victims before her male accomplices strike,” he said.
The detectives recovered two vehicles, a spare number plate, a toy pistol used by the woman, ten mobile phones, a note book with codes of various banks and a cheque book from a Sacco.
How cybercrime gang hacked dead PCEA cleric’s SIM to steal cash
The syndicate mostly targets wealthy individuals, especially those who have died.
Feb 15 2021
The Star
Detectives have arrested five suspects for defrauding innocent Kenyans through SIM swapping and using SIM cards of deceased people to steal.
The five are in police custody and will be arraigned on Tuesday at the Milimani Law Courts.
The police said the cybercriminals have been hijacking the victims’ cell phone numbers and using them to gain access to personal data and bank accounts through Mobile Banking Apps.
After taking control of the swapped SIM card, they insert it in their phone, access the financial accounts, and transfer all the funds to other scammed telephone numbers.
Once the cash is withdrawn, they switch off the stolen cards frustrating efforts by detectives to track them down.
The detectives said they have established that dozens of other Kenyans have been defrauded by the multi-faced gang.
According to the sleuths, the syndicate mostly targets wealthy individuals, especially those who have died and their families who have placed their death announcements in newspapers.
They also target telephone lines of the elderly and those who have traveled abroad.
“The telephone lines of those that fall in that category have minimal chances of raising suspicion. They normally strike soon after the person dies and before the family establishes the exact wealth in the deceased’s bank accounts,” the police said.
A subsequent joint investigation by the Operations Branch, Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB), and Special Service Unit (SSU) have since opened a can of worms.
It was established that the scammers used the late PCEA Secretary-General Rev Peter Kania Kariuki who died on July 26, 2020, and Nairobi businessman Amos Ngata Muiruri’s lines to execute their dirty business.
During the investigations, it emerged that the telephone number which was used to clean up Ngata’s bank accounts was the registered line of Rev Kania before he died.
“The scammers had stolen Sh500,000 from Rev Kania’s bank account without the knowledge of his widow and his children. Unknown to Rev Kania’s family, the telephone line he used before he died had been used to steal money from the late Ngata and many other Kenyans.”
The matter was reported to Safaricom and the line was reverted to the family, and they discovered that more than Sh2.8 million had been stolen through the NCBA App operated by the NCBA Bank Kenya, the Eazzy Banking app for the Equity Bank, and the Mcoop cash app for the Co-operative Bank.
“The children visited the banks and confirmed the cash had been transferred to a different telephone number. They reported the theft to DCI headquarters. one of his sons discovered that the father’s telephone which he used for mobile bank transactions when he was alive had suddenly gone dead. ”
The five suspects are Eugene Shivachi, Morris Koome, Eutycus Mutembei, Jane Wacuka, and Clara Davies.
The DCI has appealed to anyone who has fallen victim to the SIM swapping syndicate to report to the Operations Branch at the DCI headquarters.
The African Crime & Conflict Journal 
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