Gangsters steal 63 bags of coffee from Ragati Coffee Factory

Some bags of coffee at Ragati coffee factory in Ndia Constituency, Kirinyaga County after a gang raided the facility on Saturday night and stole 63 bags of parchment coffee valued at Sh1.8 million. (PHOTO: MUNENE KAMAU/ STANDARD)

Gangsters raided a factory and took off with 63 bags of coffee valued at almost Sh2 million.

The criminals stormed Ragati Coffee Factory in Ndia Constituency at about 10pm on Saturday and rounded up four guards on duty before packing the beans into gunny bags labelled, “Arabica Coffee, a produce of Tanzania”.

Ragati is one of the 10 factories under Kibirigwe Coffee Co-operative Society and produces one of the top grades of the commodity, according to the society’s chairman Joseph Maina.

Mr Maina, who was among the farmers who rushed to the factory after they learnt about the incident, said the gangsters left some of the gunny bags with the Tanzanian label within the premises.

He said two other factories had been raided in the recent past.

“The first robbery took place at Kiangai Coffee Factory where our night guard was killed by the gangsters but they were repulsed before they could steal any parchment from the store,” the official said.

Maina said two weeks ago, Getuya Coffee Factory was raided, parchment coffee worth Sh2 million stolen and four guards seriously injured.

Heavy losses

The official said the crop was due for delivery to the miller this morning. “It’s unfortunate that our society has been targeted and we continue to incur heavy losses,” he said.

By yesterday, County Police Commander Joseph Nthenge, who also rushed to the factory the same night, said investigations had been launched.

He said although no arrests had been made relating to the three incidents, his officers were following all possible leads to bring the culprits to book.