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Flying Squad officer carjacked, held for 3 hours


An officer attached to an elite police unit has become the latest victim of rising crime in Nairobi.

The Flying Squad officer was carjacked outside a friend’s house and kept hostage for almost three hours, during which his bank and M-Pesa accounts were emptied before he was dumped on a lonely road in Ruiru.

The friend the officer was dropping outside a flat that houses police officers and their families was also abducted in the 11.45pm incident on Friday.

“I was waiting for the watchman to open the gate when I realised someone was pointing an AK-47 at me. I smiled, thinking it was one of my colleagues playing a prank.

“But he hit me with the rifle butt as another man appeared with a pistol,” said the officer, who could not be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

He said four assailants entered the vehicle and drove away with him and his friend.

The officer, who is at the forefront in the war against crime, said it had never occurred to him that a carjack could be “so traumatising.”

“I’m also lucky because I did not have my pistol, which would have marked me as a policeman. Gangsters have never hesitated to shoot an officer,” he added.

“During the ordeal, I did not stop praying to God to blind them so that they would not see my appointment certificate (police ID card). I’m still alive because they did not see it,” he said.

As the gangsters drove around with their captives, they took their phones, wallets, money and other valuables.

They even took away their shoes when they eventually abandoned them.

“The gangsters were getting orders on their phones from their leader, who drove to Ruiru in another car. They left me with him and drove off to withdraw money. I was so confused I gave them the wrong PIN number. When they returned, they beat me ruthlessly. I pleaded with them to stop and explained that I was too frightened to remember it and begged for time,” the officer said.

He said such cases were on the rise in Nairobi and advised residents to take precaution.

“They have a trick where they trail you and slightly bump their vehicle into yours. Naturally, you think it’s an accident and you alight to assess the damage and they attack you. If this happens at night, drive to the nearest police station,” he advised.

In another incident, a guard was hacked to death when an eight-man gang with three G3 rifles and two pistols raided Yaamin Estate in Mlolongo,

Mr Wesley Bett died of deep cuts in the head.

The gunmen broke into the house of one of the tenants, Dr Ali Abdulahi, and robbed him of various items. He was not harmed.

The gunmen then jumped over the fence and disappeared into the darkness.