The wife of a European diplomat had just walked out of a popular mall in Westlands on February 7, 2026. She was making calls and preparing to commute home when a motorcycle with a rider and two pillion passengers approached her.
In a split second, one of the pillion passengers snatched the woman’s phone before the motorcycle sped off with some passersby unsuccessfully attempting to give chase.
Three other women were robbed at the same spot by individuals on boda bodas on different dates. Two of them lost mobile phones.
The European envoy’s wife filed a complaint with the Diplomatic Police Unit on the same day. Within hours, word had gotten to a number of senior police officers that the incident had angered the woman and her family.
In such instances, the Diplomatic Police Unit acts as a liaison between local authorities and the complainant. The case was taken up by Spring Valley Police Station.
The phone was, however, never recovered, but investigations continued, tying into several other snatching incidents within the city that would lead police to organised gangs targeting the devices.
Then on July 4, two armed men walked into Chaiiwali Café along General Mathenge Drive in Westlands and stole seven mobile phones and a laptop from patrons before getting onto a motorcycle they had parked outside and fleeing.
The robbery was captured on CCTV. That incident, too, caught the attention of senior police bosses as the CCTV footage spread like wildfire on social media.
At that point, the common thread between the two incidents, and several other forms of crime in Nairobi, was motorcycles, mostly those used as boda boda.
Directives were issued from the office of Inspector-General Douglas Kanja to take action on crime, particularly those involving bodabodas.
On July 14, Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers trailed one of the Chaiiwali suspects to Joska. A shootout at a house rented by the suspect’s girlfriend ensued. He was killed in that exchange, and a Beretta pistol was recovered.
Spring Valley and Parklands police stations, which have jurisdiction over the areas where the diplomat’s wife lost her phone and Chaiiwali Café’s surroundings, initiated a crackdown on bodabodas in the hope that crime would go down.
In August, Spring Valley police station presented 98 boda boda riders in court for various offences. The riders were fined Sh182,000.
In October, 102 riders were charged in court by the same police station and were fined a collective Sh314,395.
Police believe that such crackdowns and collaboration with some boda boda riders have helped lower crime in Nairobi.
“We noted that many of these criminals use bodabodas as their mode of transport. It’s on that basis that we decided to tighten the grip on criminals on bodabodas. I am glad it has borne fruit,” police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga said on the phone last Friday.
National Police Service Spokesperson Michael Nyaga Muchiri.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
In October, investigations into the theft of several phones, including the one snatched from the European diplomat’s wife, were still ongoing. They would uncover multiple organised gangs targeting phones, which are refurbished and then sold, some as far as Uganda.
One of those investigations led police to a robbery-with-violence suspect who was arrested in early October. The suspect told police that he and many others are hired by a businessman who owns a chain of phone retail shops in Nairobi and Kampala.
That businessman was arrested on October 12. Following that arrest, Nairobi Regional Police Commander Issa Mohamud called and led a meeting between station bosses and bodaboda riders. The riders were represented by leaders from over 100 Saccos.
Nairobi Regional Police Commander Issa Mohamud addresses the press at Kencom in Nairobi on July 7, 2026.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group
The meeting was aimed at seeking assistance of legitimate bodaboda riders in weeding out crime involving motorcycles.
Particularly, police had taken a stand that bodaboda riders were at the centre of phone snatching and mobilising and ferrying goons hired by politicians.
During the meeting, the boda boda riders asked police commanders from Spring Valley to go easy on riders from other parts of town who were finding it hard to access the area due to a crackdown by the police.
In the end, the meeting resolved that all chairs of boda boda saccos in Nairobi will volunteer information of any of their members who engage in crimes and may be part of the gangs hired by politicians.
The meeting further agreed that leaders of the bodaboda riders will also help the police by providing details of motorcycles that are used by phone snatchers and other criminals.
Phone snatching has, however, continued. Last Friday, police requested a woman whose device was snatched by a rider on a motorcycle bearing a Glovo storage unit to come forward and report her robbery incident.
CCTV footage captured the woman’s phone being snatched by the rider. After arresting a suspect, it emerged that the woman had not filed a complaint.
Many other snatchings have been captured on CCTV cameras across the city, even after the crackdowns and the October meeting with bodaboda operators.
