A gun used in the robbery of patrons at a restaurant in Westlands, Nairobi, has been traced to another crime in Mtwapa, Kilifi, even as police continue their hunt for suspects in the incident captured on CCTV cameras.
Ballistics tests on a spent cartridge collected from the eatery on General Mathenge Drive, Spring Valley, have linked the weapon to a separate robbery in Mtwapa that occurred in February this year.
On Monday, police killed a man suspected to be one of the robbers in the Spring Valley incident, and recovered a Beretta pistol and several mobile phones from the scene.
Screengrab from CCTV footage showing four armed men storming a restaurant in Westlands and robbing customers.
Photo credit: Pool
A team of officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters and Matungulu Police Station in Machakos County engaged the suspect in a shootout on Monday evening.
The shootout, at his girlfriend's house in Joska, followed intelligence about the suspect's whereabouts, Matungulu police chief Peter Gichohi told the Nation .
Police shoot dead suspect linked to Westlands restaurant robbery in Joska operation
Police: He refused to surrender
Gichohi said that when police arrived at the rented house, the suspect refused to surrender and instead opened fire — an account also given by the DCI in a statement.
DCI boss Mohammed Amin, in a post on the DCI's social media platform, said investigators have recorded statements from several victims.
"Detectives from the Imaging and Acoustic Section are retrieving and analysing CCTV footage from the area. At the same time, Crime Scene Investigators have submitted critical evidence recovered from the scene for forensic analysis," Amin said.
On Monday, detectives from an elite DCI unit were deployed to Ruaka and Kangemi to hunt for armed gunmen who staged two separate robberies last week.
Operation Support Unit (OSU) officers have been directed to arrest two men who violently robbed a woman in Ruaka, an incident that spilled into a salon where other women were having their hair done. The suspects escaped on a motorcycle. Both incidents were captured on CCTV.
Screengrab from CCTV footage showing an armed man robbing women at a salon in Ruaka.
Photo credit: Pool
On Sunday, at around midday, a lone gunman was captured on camera attacking women outside a salon in Ruaka, Kiambu County. The robber, dressed in a green overall, was seen struggling with a woman believed to be salon staff before grabbing her mobile phone. He fired a single shot into the air before fleeing on a motorcycle.
The incident is the latest in a series of armed robberies that have raised security concerns among residents of Nairobi and Kiambu counties.
CCTV footage shows the woman struggling with the gunman as she tried to hide her phone. He assaults her and strikes her with the firearm as she and others scream for help. The footage also captures him trailing the woman inside the salon before assaulting her and fleeing with the phone, which police say is valued at Sh100,000.
OSU investigators are also hunting for a second gang, comprising four men believed to be armed criminals who attacked revellers at a restaurant in Westlands last Sunday.
The team is searching for suspects who were part of a four-man group that stormed a restaurant along General Mathenge Road and robbed patrons of mobile phones, cash and other valuables. Four hooded men riding two motorcycles stormed the restaurant, and the gunmen fired two rounds into the air as they fled toward Parklands.
Police have since recovered a spent cartridge from the scene. Ballistic examination of the cartridge revealed that the gun used in the General Mathenge robbery was the same one used in a separate attack in Mtwapa, Mombasa County, in February.
On February 7, the DCI arrested six individuals suspected of involvement in a burglary in Mtwapa that turned violent. The suspects were arrested in Vipingo, Kilifi County, following intelligence gathering on their whereabouts.
Police said a search of a house believed to be their hideout led to the recovery of six mobile phones, eight national identity cards bearing different names, two Somali swords and two machetes.
At a second house, police recovered 18 rolls of bhang and Sh7,000 in cash, believed to be proceeds of crime.
