Nairobi News

Sniffer dogs will be used to fight crime in the city, starting this week.

They will be handled by specially trained officers from the city Inspectorate.

Twenty dogs will be deployed to begin with, in the CBD and upmarket neighbourhoods including Karen, Runda and Westlands, which have experienced an upsurge in crime since December.

The dogs will be used to sniff out firearms and explosives in matatus and buses, which have been used with devastating effects.

“We already have 20 trained dogs; sniffers which can even detect a bomb. But we have logistical problems with one being the special pick-ups for their transport. We also need a compound where they’ll be housed. But we have them ready, they are in Karen,” said the county transport chief Evans Ondieki.

He went on: “They also must have a handler who is a professional. 

They also need insurance for each dog in case it bites somebody accidentally — everyone will be covered.

“We’ve also made sure that they are vaccinated,” he added.

Some of the dogs were bred locally while others were imported from South Africa at a cost of Sh100,000 each. 

Mr Ondieki added City Hall was hoping to bring in more dogs in the coming months.

Wave of robberies

“We will also spread them to the estates. If our residents stay late in the CBD and can’t get home because of insecurity, then it becomes our issue. We can no longer say it’s an issue of the police or the national government,” he said.

The CBD has experienced a wave of robberies in the last few months with jewellery shops, M-Pesa stalls and banks targeted.

In February, two robbers who were part of a four-man gang that intended to rob the I&M Bank at Bazaar Building were gunned down on Kimathi Street.

Earlier, another robber who planned to waylay and rob a customer coming from Barclays Bank was killed on nearby Kimathi Lane.

Six days ago, Nairobi police deputy commandant Moses Ombati said they were trailing three women believed to be part of a gang robbing jewellery shops in the CBD.