NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 6- At 2pm on November 11, truck driver Joseph Njane was expected to have arrived at Zheng Hong Company’s premises in Nairobi to collect some goods but at this time, he was being driven in a suspected gangsters’ car to an unknown destination.
Njane was travelling from Narok to collect goods at the company’s yard when he was flagged down by five men who posed as police and ordered to park by the roadside in Zambezi area along Nairobi – Nakuru highway.
The five men ordered him to surrender the ignition keys at gunpoint before they bundled him into a Toyota Fielder and the long ride that lasted more than five hours started.
While Njane was being driven away, the lorry – KCX 815K was being driven towards Thika.
The company’s director contacted Njane’s employer Isaac Karawa Kahura and informed him that the lorry had not reached their offices.
Kahura called Njane but his phone had been switched off while he was being driven around.
He made a report at the Nairobi Area DCI headquarters and contacted the tracker who had installed a tracking device on the lorry.
The lorry had deviated the route it was to follow and was headed to Thika.
Kahura shared the tracking device’s findings with police and the vehicle was circulated as stolen.
Njane made a report at Kyumvi police station in Machakos County after he was dumped and abandoned at Kivani village.
Detectives at Thika DCI offices started narrowing down into the location of the vehicle as identified by the tracking device’s owner.
They found the vehicle at a yard in Ngoingwa, in the outskirts of Thika town on November 23 being dismantled and arrested Dick Ongoti Mose who was allegedly found in the driver’s cabin vandalizing the truck’s dashboard.
The suspect had already changed the lorry’s registration to KCQ 674Y after affixing a different registration plate.
Mose had allegedly retrieved the tracking device but was still with it inside the lorry.
He attempted to flee after detectives arrived but was accosted.
The officers found the tools he was using to dismantle the vehicle.
Mose was arraigned at Kibera law courts on charges of robbery with violence where he denied violently robbing Njane of the lorry worth Sh6 million and threatening to shoot him during the robbery.
The suspect is also facing an alternative charge of handling stolen property.
He is accused of dishonestly receiving and retaining the truck on November 23 when he was allegedly found with it in the course of stealing it which he also denied before senior resident magistrate Charles Mwaniki.
He was freed on a Sh3 million bond without option of cash bail.
The case will be mentioned on December 14.
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