The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) detectives have arrested a robbery with violence suspect who was captured on CCTV attacking a watchman in Mombasa County.
In an update on Thursday, January 29, DCI said the suspect was arrested by a team of detectives from the Mombasa DCI Regional Headquarters, working alongside officers from DCI Urban and Tononoka Police Station.
“A team of officers from Mombasa DCI Regional Headquarters, together with their counterparts from DCI Urban and Tononoka Police Station, have apprehended a notorious robbery with violence suspect who was captured attacking a watchman, in a video that has since gone viral across social media platforms,” read the statement.
In the CCTV footage, the suspect, armed with a panga alongside an accomplice, launched a vicious assault on the unsuspecting watchman before making off with his mobile phone.
Following the incident, the DCI detectives launched an all-out manhunt for the two suspects.
The sleuths used forensic leads and tracked down Salim Keya Ngesa to a guest house in Bondeni “A,” where he was hiding and subsequently arrested him.
During the operation, the detectives recovered a cache of incriminating evidence, including six assorted mobile phones, a blood-stained panga and two knives.
The officers also recovered a greyish kanzu that matched the attire seen in the CCTV footage of the incident.
The suspect is in police custody, undergoing processing pending arraignment in a court of law.
Meanwhile, detectives are pursuing his accomplice, who is still on the run.
The incident sparked outrage online, with netizens calling on the police to rein in gangs operating in Mombasa.
In a statement, Vocal Africa CEO Hussein Khalid said insecurity in the coastal city has reached unprecedented levels.
“Insecurity in Mombasa has reached unprecedented levels. Two nights ago, a middle-aged man was attacked by a panga-wielding youth and seriously injured in the middle of the CBD.
“Police in Mombasa seem unable to rein in these gangs and hooligans. Every day all over the town, people are robbed, hurt and even killed. Communities continue to suffer with no respite in the offing,” Khalid stated.
