Five police officers arrested in suspected theft at ATM

Close up of man's hand about to put a credit card into a cash machine. [File, Standard]

Detectives in Machakos are investigating what is suspected to be a collaboration by police officers and prison warders to steal from a bank's Automated Teller Machine (ATM) in Machakos town.

Three police officers and two prison warders drawn from various stations in Nairobi, Murang’a and Machakos were apprehended at a KCB ATM on Tuesday night and Sh268,000 in hard cash which they could not account for recovered.

A motor vehicle, Toyota Noah, which was driven by one of the prison warders was also impounded. Sh100,000 of the recovered money was found in the vehicle’s dashboard while another Sh168,000 had been stashed in one of the arrested officer’s pair of socks.

According to the police, a nightguard attached to the bank’s branch in Machakos town alerted security officers after seeing suspicious-looking people at the ATM lobby at around 11.30 pm.

Police immediately swung into action and raided the scene where they apprehended five men who are currently being held for questioning at Machakos Police Station.

Those arrested were identified as Cpl Richard Wambua currently attached to Kahuro Police Station in Murang’a, Apc Boniface Wambua based in Rapid Deployment Unit (Nairobi) and currently attached to RDU Mau, Apc Cyprian Odundo (Machakos), Prison warder, Julius Mwalili attached to Prisons Headquarters and Prison Warder Musyoki Mutua attached to prisons regional commander in Nairobi.

The incident was booked at Machakos Police Station under O.B,78/09/10/2019

Machakos County Police Commander, John Karanja confirmed the incident but said investigations were still being done to establish whether it was an incident of crime.

“We are yet to arrive at any conclusion as of now because we want to get proper facts on the incident. We will furnish you with the accurate reports once we complete ongoing investigations,” Karanja told Standard Digital Wednesday afternoon.

Another police source involved in the ongoing investigations said there was no complaint from the bank regarding any loss of money, suspicious or unauthorized transactions reported during the period of time under probe.

The officer said there was no compelling justification to charge the arrested persons with any offense in a court of law.

At the same time, the bank’s branch manager, Christopher Kuto declined to comment on the matter, saying the issue can only be addressed by the head office in Nairobi.