Suspect arrested as police recover gun in Meru

Police Officers from Laare Police Station in Igembe North, Meru County on Wednesday, May 29 night arrested two suspected gang members.

In a statement, the National Police Service (NPS) said the police officers responded to a mob justice incident and rescued the first suspect from an angry mob. 

The suspect, identified as 25-year-old Benson Muriithi, is accused of being involved in robbery and carjacking incidents in Meru County. 

“On May 29, 2024, night, Officers from Laare Police Station in Igembe North Sub-County, Meru County responding to a mob injustice incident at KK Etama Area rescued Benson Muriithi, 25, a suspected member of a notorious gang involved in a spate of carjacking and robbery incidences,” the police report read in part.

The officers then recovered one AK-47 rifle and an empty magazine at the homestead of another suspected gang member identified as Agnes Kanana. The suspect was apprehended to assist the police officers in the investigation.

This comes after detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) arrested a 46-year-old suspect identified as Renkel Lentaam believed to have been involved in a series of violent robberies in Laikipia.

According to the DCI, the suspect was arrested within Nanyuki town by detectives backed by GSU officers.

Upon interrogation, the suspect confessed to being in possession of an AK47 riffle and took the police officers where he had hidden it.

“Augmented by their GSU counterparts from Arjijo Operation Camp, the crime busters proceeded to Makurian location inside Mukogodo forest, where the suspect had hidden the illegal firearm and 53 rounds of live ammunition inside a modified tree trunk,” DCI stated.