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When your car disappears without trace from the parking lot

By Amina Wako November 4th, 2019 2 min read

On the night of Tuesday October 22, 2019 Mr Joseph Nyaga arrived home at 11pm parked his car as usual at Equity Bank Kariobangi branch and walked to the house.

The following morning, he woke up early and prepared for the day. Minutes later he stepped out of the house and went to the parking slot only to find his car a Toyota DX of registration number KBH 349N missing from where he had parked it.

STOLEN CAR

His daughter, Rita Karimi, told Nairobi News that they tried to inquire what had transpired that night but they never got an answer.

“There are a number of banks around the place he had parked. We tried to check the CCTV footage from all of them but we never saw how the car left the parking slot,” Ms Karimi said.

They later decided to report the matter at Kariobangi Police Station (OB number 15/23/10/019). The police have been following up on the matter since then.

“Currently the police have just spread out the information to other police stations. We hope that they will find the car which is silver in colour,” Ms Karimi said.

Nairobi News has established that the incident is one of the many reports that are being made at Kariobangi Police Station linked to either the loss or vandalising of cars.

A few weeks ago, Mr Amos Makabe, who lived in Kariobangi, woke up one morning only to find several parts of his car missing.

Mr Makabe said the watchman who guards the vehicles was clueless on what had happened.

THRIVING BUSINESS

“I had no option but to call the mechanic and asked him to repair the car. Three days later I moved out of Kariobangi,” says Mr Makabe who now lives in Gachie.

The incidents happened just one month after police officers and detectives attached to Kariobangi and Kasarani Police Stations arrested four people believed to be part of a gang that was carjacking motorists and dismantling the vehicles before selling the spare parts.

The police have admitted that despite their best efforts car theft business has continued to thrive.

“Our main challenge is that many suspects – even those found in possession of stolen cars – are often released by the courts,” said a senior investigating officer who has been involved in similar cases.

For instance, three suspects; Mr Francis Adabu Kinyanjui, Mr Stephen Njoroge Njihia, Ms Gladys Wanjiku, who were arrested by police last month, were let free a few days later by the court.

That said, Nairobi County police boss Philip Ndolo has warned criminals involved in the trade that they will soon catch up with them.

“Our officers are keeping an eye and I want to assure you that we have closed all the loopholes and the criminals will pay for their actions,” he said.