By CYRUS OMBATI
Police have launched a manhunt for five gangsters who hijacked a lorry carrying more than 120 bundles of iron sheets along Nairobi-Nakuru highway and escaped with it.
The gang had been trailing the lorry in a saloon car before they struck in Mai Mahiu and drove it to unknown destination on Wednesday night.
The driver of the lorry was bundled into the saloon car and abandoned in Ruai. The gang had defaced number plates of the saloon car to avoid being detected.
Nairobi Area police boss Anthony Kibuchi said the lorry was to deliver the iron sheets to Nakuru.
Such incidents are on the rise on the highways. The most targeted goods are tyres and construction material. Police investigation shows some lorry crew collude with the highway robbers to steal the goods.
Mr Kibuchi disclosed that a special squad to track down highway robbers has been formed and was already in operation.
“We have arrested a number of them and we believe those behind this one will be found,” he said.
Meanwhile, two suspected thugs were lynched by the public in a botched robbery in Nairobi’s Dandora Estate.
Police said they were called to the scene long after the gang had been killed. They removed the bodies to the mortuary.
shot dead
And a suspected thug was on Wednesday night shot dead by police in a botched robbery in Maji Mazuri, Kasarani, Nairobi.
The suspect was in the company of two others and were robbing residents when police were alerted and gunned him down.
