By JOB WERU
Four robbers Tuesday raided a bank in Nyeri and made away with Sh5.2 million. The robbers, who were armed with knives, reportedly arrived at K-Rep Bank along Nyeri’s Kanisa road in a Toyota car.
The incident happened shortly after 4pm, and the four had posed as customers intending to open an account.
They later sneaked into tellers’ section and ordered staff on duty to lie down.
The gang made away with Sh5.2 million and left behind a gunny bag containing some Sh7.5 million that was received at the bank at around noon.
Nyeri OCPD Kirunya Limbitu, who was accompanied by Central PPO Francis Munyambu, they could not rule out an inside job in the heist as the staff could not explain how some money delivered for accounting at noon was not accounted for and deposited with the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Nyeri branch by 4 pm.
“The initial report we received at around 4.30pm is that the gang was armed with a rifle, a pistol and knives, but after reviewing CCTV clips, we have not seen an indicator of a firearm. We have just recovered the Sh7.5 million that was supposed to be counted and deposited with CBK near the money counting machine,” said Limbitu.
He observed that the bank staff claimed the total amount that was received from other bank branches in Kerugoya was Sh12.7 million: “But the gang left behind the Sh7.5 million gunny bag”.
No injury was reported during the 4.10 pm incident, while staff did not report any confrontations with the four men. “We are investigating to see whether it could be an inside job,” said Limbitu.
A senior police officer at the scene said the bank does not hire services of armed policemen, and only relies on guards from security firms.
“We also wonder why the so-called customers were not frisked when entering the bank,” said the officer.
