The pursuit of a robbery with violence suspect has led to the doorstep of a businessman whose retail empire stretches across Kenya and Uganda. Police believe that he is at the centre of a phone-snatching syndicate feeding the cross-border stolen handsets trade.
By the time of going to press, detectives were working on securing warrants to allow them to search the businessman’s premises and seize potential evidence.
On Saturday, police arrested a robbery with violence suspect who, during questioning, revealed his role in the syndicate allegedly run by the businessman.
A Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) probe indicates that the businessman operates seven phone retail shops in Nairobi, and that he recently opened an eighth store in Kampala.
On Saturday, police in Kasarani and Kibra recovered 43 phones suspected to have been stolen by a syndicate allegedly headed by the businessman. Some of the handsets were recovered from the house of the robbery with violence suspect.
Other individuals were also arrested in Kasarani in connection with multiple phone snatching incidents, and some have also identified the same businessman as their main client.
Four of those handsets have been handed over to their owners after documentation of their particulars.
“He buys these phones from different people. It’s a well-concealed underworld network. The most expensive phones go for as little as Sh500,” said an investigator familiar with the current investigations and trail of the businessman.
An investigator told the Nation that the businessman pays phone snatchers up to Sh500 per handset for the top brands like iPhone and Samsung.
The snatchers allegedly give the stolen handsets to an agent of the businessman. The handsets are then given to technicians who attempt to unlock and reset them.
Once reset, the phones are sold, with most of the stolen handsets being moved to the Ugandan market.
“The price is dependent on the market price of a new phone. The criminals can decide to sell the phone at a discounted price to make it more competitive,” said the investigator.
The investigator alleged that the businessman’s agents transport handsets which are successfully unlocked and refurbished to Busia, and that they are disguised as regular parcels.
In Busia, another team takes over and illegally transports the handsets into Uganda where they are sold in shops in Kampala.
The more recent iPhone models, the investigator said, fetch between Sh100,000 and Sh150,000. Top Samsung models, he added, go for between Sh80,000 and Sh100,000.
Oppo and Nokia are also commonly targeted, with the latter being in demand both as handsets and as spare parts.
As the snatchers pick their targets at random, the stolen phones are sorted out by technicians, who decide which handsets they will retain.
The Saturday operation took place in the Karanja area of Kibra, after information gathered by police indicated that the businessman allegedly stores some of the handsets there after they have been snatched.
On X, the National Police Service said the arrested man was linked to a series of reported crimes in the Nairobi West Sub-region.
“A number of the retrieved gadgets have already been positively identified by their rightful owners,” the NPS stated.
The NPS has announced a crackdown on mobile phone snatchers, receivers and handlers of the stolen phones.
On October 5, two suspects were arrested, 17 phones were recovered in Kiamaiko, Nairobi.
Police officers from Huruma police station recovered seven Tecno handsets, one Redmi 15C, one Realme Note, one Oppo 3X and one Infinix phone.
On January 26, detectives from Nairobi Central sub-county arrested two suspects and recovered 900 handsets.
At the time, the DCI said officers who had received intelligence stormed into a mobile shop on Charles Rubia Street, near the busy Buscar bus stage and intercepted two packages destined for Uganda, which turned out to be stolen handsets.
