Nairobi News

NewsWhat's Hot

Suspected kidnapper shot dead as police rescue abducted five-year-old boy


The police have rescued a five-year-old boy who was kidnapped one month ago after storming a house in Thika where the child was being held by his captors.

Alvin Kwere who was kidnapped on October 7 from Starehe estate, Thika town was taken hostage from a church compound.

According to the police, one of the kidnappers, who was armed with a machete, was shot dead after he engaged the police in a spirited fight during the rescue mission at Kimuchu near Juja, where the boy had been held captive for 24 days.

KIDNAPPED

“A boy aged five years who had been reported kidnapped, was today afternoon rescued after a one month painstaking search by @DCI_Kenya Detectives. The child was found in a house within Thika town and is currently in safe hands,” the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said on Wednesday in a tweet.

After the rescue, the dazed boy said that he had been living with ‘uncle’ and ‘auntie’.

Detectives tracked the kidnappers’ phone signals for weeks and zeroed in on their location — a single-room house in Kimuchu village.

Inside the house in Kimuchu village, Thika from where the five-year-old boy was rescued. PHOTO | COURTESY
Inside the house in Kimuchu village, Thika from where the five-year-old boy was rescued. PHOTO | COURTESY

RANSOM DEMAND

The kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Sh526,000 and had warned the boy’s parents to send the money or else they would kill the child and send them his head in a box.

Police are yet to arrest the woman who is believed to have been an accomplice of the slain suspect.

According to the police, a suspected criminal was fatally injured after he engaged the police in a spirited fight using crude weapons during the rescue mission.

Two IDs bearing different names were recovered from the slain suspect.

DUMPED BABY

At the same time, the police are asking seeking help from the public ion in regards to a dead baby whose body was found dumped within the Kenya Meteorological Department staff quarters last week.

According to the DCI, the one-year-old male child was found wrapped in a paper bag and dumped at a dumpsite.

Police said at the time of the discovery that the baby’s body had visible head injuries.