BY ALBERT NYAKUNDI
Two of the four armed robbers who allegedly robbed an M-Pesa agent in Homa Bay county on Wednesday last week live in Nairobi and are well known to the police.
One of them is a resident of Maji Mazuri estate opposite garage stage near Mwiki while his accomplice lives in Githurai 44.
They have lived in these estates for more than ten years.
Hot News has established.
James Njuguna Karobia lives in Maji Mazuri and is a father of two while his accomplice only identified as Martin lives in Githurai 44.
Hot News confirmed the light skinned Njuguna is in his mid-thirties and lives in a two bedroomed house.
Their friends who are part of a cartel that specializes in hijacking customers withdrawing huge amounts of cash from banks are said to have approached specific DCI officers at the DCI headquarters to seek protection of the duo.
The officers allegedly asked for Sh 600, 000 which the team is fundraising.
“His friends are trying to raise the Sh 300, 000 to bribe the officers to ensure no manhunt will be launched for Njuguna.” said a source familiar with the goings-on.
The four hijacked the businessman James Achuki along Kisii-Miruka road before handcuffing him and bundling him in a private car that they were driving in.
Achuki was boarding a bodaboda from Kisii town where he had withdrawn over Sh 300,000 from his bank to use as float for his M-Pesa shop.
The rider managed to escape and alerted members of the public who launched a manhunt.
The four are believed to have robbed Sh 600, 000 from another businessman in the area before robbing Achuki.
They blocked the road and stoned two of the suspects to death before lynching them.
The vehicle was set on fire.
Two other suspects managed to escape in different directions and made their way back to Nairobi.
A source that spoke to Hot News under condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter said Njuguna and Martin have not been in touch with each other because they left their phones in the ill-fated car.
None of them knows each other’s house, a policy of the cartel.
They only meet through phone calls.
The cartel operates mostly in Nakuru,Kisii,Homa bay, Kisumu,Kiambu and Kakamega.
Njuguna was arrested in February and is facing robbery charges and masquerading as a police officer in a Nakuru court.
Sources at Maji Mazuri said Njuguna “lives large”
“He travels a lot and at times he can be away for two weeks.” The source said.
He is well known in the matatu sector in Mwiki.
He used to be a broker for a long time where he processed vehicle inspection stickers for most matatus in the area, which owners did not want to present physically at the Likoni Inspection center in Nairobi.
Njuguna’s wife only identified as Wairimu alias mama Maxwell talked to this incognito writer on Saturday.
She said she has believed her husband works at the Kenya Bureau of Standards.
“It is when he was arrested in February that I learned he never works at KEBS. He failed to show me a job card. I bailed him out in February, and we had a lengthy meeting with him and my mother in law trying to understand what transpired in Nakuru.” She said.
Wairimu said the husband told her that he never robbed the complainant, but it was a bribe of Sh 700, 000 after he arrested the complainant for the offence of urinating along the road.
“He told me that together with his friend they impersonated Nakuru County workers and arrested the victim for the offence of urinating on the roadside, but I did not believe him.” She told Hot News.
Wairimu ,29, said that one of the robbers lynched in Homabay on Wednesday lives in Mwiki.
“His wife called me and told me he received a distress call to collect her husband’s remains from Karachuonyo subcounty hospital morgue.” She said.
She said the car that was set blazed was a Toyota Fielder,KCZ 423 J.
“I introduced my husband to my former classmate who hired the car on behalf of my husband.”
Wairimu told Hot News. She said the classmate broke the bad news to her on phone.
Undercover detectives from Kasarani on Saturday arrested Wairimu and locked her at Kasarani Police Station.
She was not booked for any charges in the Occurrence Book as it is the police standard operating procedures.
She was threatened that she will be charged for the offence of harboring a criminal, -her husband,Njuguna.
A police officer who spoke strictly under condition of anonymity for fear of intimidation told Hot News that Wairimu was released on Sunday afternoon after parting with Sh 200, 000 bribe.
Kasarani Subcounty Police Commander Muthuri Mwongera refused to comment on the matter.
He just acknowledged our inquiry text message by responding ‘OK’.
It is not clear why the police in Kasarani did not take Wairimu to the crime scene in Homa Bay to help the local police in investigations that would lead to the arrest of her husband and his accomplice.
Her husband will remain at large if some rogue police continue to cover his criminal activities.