Police in Muranga County were forced to fire in the air three times to scare a gang of seven who had raided Kakuzi Plantation to steal avocados.
The seven started hurling avocados at the police when they were ordered to surrender before the officers shot in the air.
The police, however, arrested one suspect and recovered 350 kilograms of avocados. The suspect allegedly attempted to give Kenol Police Station OCS Martin Odwori a Sh42,300 bribe which he declined to take and kept as a crime exhibit.
Mr Odwori said that Directorate of Criminal Investigations officers received a tip-off at around 4.30am about the theft of avocados at the 43, 000 acre plantation along Kenol-Sagana Highway.
“Our officers met a group of men who were harvesting a high valued hass variety of avocados as others loaded it to a Toyota Probox car that was parked by the roadside,” area police boss Alexander Shikondi said.
“The thieves escaped into the vast plantation but the driver of the car sped off towards Kenol town. We found the car parked outside a privately owned avocado processing plant in the neighbourhood where the officers arrested one suspect,” Mr Shikondi said.
“We are interrogating the suspect to establish their association with the owner of the private avocado processor,” he said.
Mr Shikondi said once investigations are complete, the suspect will be charged with trespass, theft of farm produce, resisting arrest, dangerous driving and attempting to bribe an enforcement officer.
Recently, avocado farmers in Meru raised the alarm over rising cases of avocado theft.
