A stolen phone helped detectives arrest two suspects believed to be masterminds of a string of robberies targeting female students at Laikipia University’s main campus in Nyahururu.
It has emerged that detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), after a meticulous probe, trailed the duo to Mai Mahiu in Nakuru County, where they were apprehended and taken into custody.
"During the arrest, a mobile phone stolen from one of the victims, a student at Laikipia University, was recovered, "DCI Mohamed Amin stated on Sunday.
According to the DCI, female victims had reported multiple incidents involving the two suspects at Losogwa Police Station in Nyahururu, prompting the police officers to rope in the DCI detectives to aid in the investigations.
Nation.Africa learnt that detectives used mobile phone triangulation technology to track down and arrest the suspects.
"Mobile phone signal triangulation helped us track down and arrest the suspects. We kept tracking them down and the public also volunteered information about the suspects. We tracked the pair to their hideout in Maai Mahiu, where we also recovered the phone stolen from one of their victims," revealed a senior detective.
Interestingly, both the suspects' phones were being switched on and off.
The stolen phone which had been off was switched on, further enabling detectives to track down the suspects.
In some instances, the suspects also used the stolen phone in their communication.
Details of complainants revealed how the two suspects identified as Dennis Kariuki Mbugua and Peter Omuzee Obungo targeted female students by laying an ambush, assaulting them and taking away their valuables.
In some incidents, students are sexually molested before being robbed by the two and their accomplices.
According to DCI, the suspects have been ambushing, assaulting, and stripping students of their belongings in a series of brazen attacks, reported in the past months.
The suspects were handed over to DCI Nyahururu pending arraignment in court to answer for robbery charges on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, police in Nyahururu have stepped up patrols around the Laikipia University as they also hunt down the duo's accomplices.
The arrests come as part of a broader crackdown on crime, including separate investigations into widespread SIM card fraud and impersonation scams across the country.
The arrests of the two robbery suspects coincided with a significant anti-fraud operation by police targeting SIM card fraud and impersonation schemes in Kiambu, Nakuru, and Makueni counties.
Detectives say that one of the key arrests involved a suspect who is believed to be at the centre of a phone impersonation and fraudulent SIM card registration network.
Detectives from the DCI’s headquarters and Nairobi Region on Friday arrested the suspect in the Membely area of Ruiru, Kiambu County.
“Following on information from the public, detectives executed an operation in the Ruiru Membley area, successfully intercepting the suspect who was behind the wheel of a motor vehicle- Nissan Saloon. Upon searching the vehicle, the detectives recovered six Safaricom SIM cards, seven Airtel SIM cards, two Telkom SIM cards, and assorted mobile phones,” the DCI confirmed in a post on X and their social media platforms.
In Nakuru County, another group of detectives arrested three suspects involved in an elaborate scam in which fraudsters posed as Simba Cement employees and lured customers with the promise of supplying cement at discounted prices.
The arrests were made following investigations into a series of fraudulent transactions that had left unsuspecting customers out of pocket.
