The Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) detectives on Wednesday, June 4 arrested three suspects believed to be the masterminds of a series of robbery incidents along the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway.
David Karanja, Juma Jumamosi and Josephine Nthamba after detectives based at Voi, Taita Taveta County, received a report on a robbery that occurred on April 9, 2025 in Ikanga area.
On the fateful day, a driver and his co-driver were ferrying gypsum from Nairobi to Mombasa using an Isuzu FRR truck with registration number KDC 020G. Upon reaching the spot, they were obstructed by one of the suspects who dashed from the thickets and attempted to cross the road.
“…In a split-second decision to avoid collision, the driver swerved, causing the truck to veer off the road and its engine to stall,” the DCI says in a statement seen by TV47 Digital.
It was at this point that a group of five others emerged from the thickets and cornered the driver and his co-driver. The suspects then went on to handcuff, bundled them behind the seats before driving off the lorry towards Mombasa.
“The two victims were unceremoniously dropped off about 300 meters away as the criminals vanished with the truck,” the DCI adds.
Following the incident, detectives launched investigation, and through meticulous forensic analysis, two of the suspects, Karanja and Jumamosi, were trailed and arrested at a hideout in Taveta. During their apprehension, Jumamosi led officers to his rented house in Bahati area of Taveta Sub-County, where a number plate KDC 020G belonging to the stolen lorry was recovered, alongside a T-shaped screwdriver and two spanners.
The duo was presented before the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Voi on May 19, 2025, where detectives were granted a 14-day custodial order to further their investigation.
A third suspect, Nthamba, would later be apprehended in Makindu on June 2, 2025.
“She too faced the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Voi, where detectives received an additional 14-day custodial order to complete their investigation and pursue further leads to arrest additional suspects involved in these highway robberies, as well as to recover the stolen lorry.”
