Kitengela: Robbers drill hole in phone shop, escape with goods worth Sh700,000
The hole that was drilled through the phone shop.
In a daring heist, two robbers drilled a hole through a phone shop in Kitengela and made off with merchandise worth at least Sh700,000
The incident, which was captured by surveillance cameras, took place on the night of January 12.
Two men booked two rooms in a lodging adjacent to the phone shop at around 4pm last Thursday and took at least eight hours to drill a hole from one of the rooms.
One of the suspects as captured by the CCTV.
A surveillance footage seen by the Nation shows two smartly dressed men entering the main shop area from the backside at 5.08am. They ransacked the shop and left at 6.20am with goods.
The first suspect is seen squeezing himself through the hole, he switched off one of the CCTV cameras then signaled his accomplice to follow him.
Speaking to the Nation, the owner of the shop said the crime was calculated.
"It was a premeditated crime. I lost new phone handsets, credit cards, EarPods and cash,” he said.
Risper Kawira, a shop attendant, told the Nation that she found the shop messy and shelves emptied on Friday morning.
Cornelius Nzioka, 51, the caretaker of the lodging, said the two suspects approached the receptionist on duty on Thursday evening and booked two rooms.
“One of the suspects was a regular customer and always preferred room 106 which is adjacent to the phone shop,” Mr Nzioka said.
The hole as seen from the lodging after it was fixed.
He added that the identification personal details that the suspects gave to the receptionist were discovered to be fake. The mobile phone numbers they provided are out of service.
The incident was reported at Kitengela police station under OB number 22/13/01/2023. No suspect has been arrested over the theft.
In the recent past, there has been a spike in robbery incidences in Kitengela.
On Saturday, an M-Pesa attendant was attacked by five people around 6pm. The robbers made away with Sh200,000.
In all the four over the weekend crimes, the perpetrators are middle aged men operating in a full glare of CCtv cameras.
Isinya Sub-County Police Commander Ancent Kaloki said officers are investigating the incidences and urged all victims to record formal complaints at the police stations.
