Detectives have intensified crackdown on a notorious criminal syndicate responsible for rampant stock and motor vehicle theft across Kirinyaga, Nyeri, and Murang’a counties.
In a follow-up intelligence-led operation conducted in Kutus, Kirinyaga County, investigators apprehended Anthony Macharia Wanjohi, a key player in this ruthless gang currently under investigation for a series of stock thefts plaguing the region.
Upon questioning, Wanjohi led officers to the Summer Garden Hotel, where he had parked a Toyota Probox, registration number KDK 895K, believed to have been used in a recent livestock theft incident in Othaya.
Further, the suspect led detectives to Gatuini Village in Kirinyaga Central, to the homestead of Mercy Nyaguthii Njiru, known for her involvement in the reception of stolen livestock. Njiru, previously arrested in September 2025 for similar crimes, was nowhere to be found when detectives arrived.
At her homestead, detectives recovered one Friesian cow, one Friesian heifer, and seven goats, all believed to have been stolen from Othaya.
Wanjohi, alongside the recovered vehicle and livestock, was escorted to Kerugoya Police Station, where he is undergoing processing pending arraignment.
Five arrests made
This comes just a day after detectives working on the case arrested five suspects believed to be members of the same notorious, ruthless gang behind motor vehicle and livestock thefts across Kirinyaga, Nyeri, and Murang’a counties.
The intelligence-led operation was launched after a Toyota Sienta, registration number KCY 467A, vanished without a trace, in a case reported at Kiaruhiu Police Station.
Armed with crucial intel, law enforcement swooped in on the gang’s ringleader, Martin Ndegwa Kinyua, at Kagicha area, as he plotted to meet his alleged crime to sell off the stolen vehicle.
Under interrogation, Ndegwa led detectives to Skuta area in Nyeri, where the stolen Sienta lay camouflaged with fake plates KDJ 765J. The operation continued with a further ambush, intercepting a getaway vehicle registration number KCS 523H, a Toyota Succeed carrying four of Ndegwa’s accomplices: Bernard Njeru Kimathi, Edwin Muchira Mwinga, Tobias Macharia Mwangi, and James Muthama Muriuki.
A quick search of the vehicle turned up ten sisal ropes, a panga, two knives, a rungu, and a master key, further revealing their criminal intentions. As detectives delved deeper, they uncovered that, on the same night the gang stole the vehicle, they also stole and slaughtered livestock and sold the meat to shady butchers, fueling a black market that has no regard for the law.
It has also been established that the gang is linked to an ongoing stock theft case currently ongoing at the Kerugoya Law Courts.
