Zachary Kariuki: Man at the centre of Kenya's alleged abduction network

Zachary Kariuki Kiago is in the news now as the head of a criminal gang that is abducting Kenyans under the command of  DCI boss Mohamed Amin, DIG Eliud Lagat and Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen.

In 2013, he was a DCIO in Embu, working under  IG Kimaiyo. In 2023, he was unconstitutionally promoted to the rank of Commissioner of Police by Japhet Koome

In 2024, the DPP recommended that he face charges for the abduction and torture of Abdulahi Abdille Isaack but nothing happened.

In the same year, he was reported as responsible for the abductions of Tanzanian activist Sarungi Tsehai, Billy Mwangi, Kibet Bull, Peter Muteti, and Ronny Kiplangat, GK Malema and others.

He was mentioned in a court case and accused of harassing an officer attached to the OSU and serious abuse of authority. An officer claims in court papers.

Court documents now paint a disturbing picture of Kariuki's conduct, with a fellow officer accusing him of harassment, discrimination, and abuse of authority in a petition filed before the High Court.

The petitioner, an officer attached to the OSU, claims Kariuki subjected him to six months of punitive guard duties at the main entrance gate, openly expressed dislike for him, and threatened to transfer him to remote postings, actions that the officer says violated his constitutional rights to dignity, equality, and fair labour practices.

According to the court papers, Kariuki instigated the officer's unlawful transfer back to the General Service Unit despite his exemplary performance record, and when the officer was returned to the DCI, Kariuki again directed his transfer, causing immense psychological torture and disruption to the officer's family life, including forcing him to move his children from one school to another.

The officer won the case in the Employment and Labour Court; Judge Hellen Wasilwa awarded him Sh 500,000 and issued an order restraining Kariuki, whether by themselves, their agents, or any persons acting under their direction, from further transferring, harassing, victimizing, or subjecting the officer to unfair labour practices without justifiable cause and due process.

In Kariuki's team, Investigations by The Standard have pieced together a detailed operational matrix of the OSU.

At the apex of this network is an influential top public servant based at State House. Beneath him lies a parallel state, existing on paper as an administrative ghost.

The unit’s footprint is deliberately elusive. It maintains black site offices that are unrecognized by official government registries: one along Valley Road, strategically positioned for telecommunications access, and another in Hurlingham. These are not locations that appear on any public directory or organogram; they are operational nodes designed to be invisible.

Although the team is led by Zachary Kariuki, the Director of Operations, based on Kiambu Road, is Samson Kiptum. He is the implementer, the field commander who translates the high-level instructions from Koskei into actionable orders. However, the entire logistical backbone rests with Engineer Sam Bett, a former Telkom Kenya technician seconded to the DCI and a remnant of the old Special Branch.

Bett is the master of logistics. All vehicles and firearms are issued and tracked through him, ensuring operational accountability rests within a tight, trusted circle.

The fleet they use has a specific signature: in late 2022, ten vehicles donated by former US Ambassador Meg Whitman, bearing number plates between 120X and 129X, were assimilated into the unit.

The unit’s technological superiority is maintained from an operations center at Teleposta Towers, a location chosen for its direct access to the "back door" of mobile network providers. It is from here that the unit can access real-time intelligence, bypassing standard legal protocols to track and target critics of the government.

The key to this intelligence juggernaut is Peter Lagat. Sources insist that the unit cannot function without him. He is the guardian of the background checks and the purveyor of live intelligence. A tech wizard with superior capabilities, Lagat gives the unit its vision, providing the data needed to identify and track targets.

The financial architecture is handled by a key aide to President Ruto, known for handling propaganda, whose office provides the budgetary injections to fund operations, particularly when the work originates from Koskei’s office or from Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen.

The unit is structured as a regimented force of 45 operatives, divided into teams of seven, each allocated to a specific regional jurisdiction. The remuneration for this clandestine work is a sliding scale: operatives receive between Sh 3,000 and Sh 10,000 per "job," while their commanders pocket Sh 15,000. For one specific assignment targeting The Standard editor Alex Kiprotich, each operative was paid a measly Sh 10,000.

 However, the unit is not always a perfectly disciplined machine. There are instances where the team takes liberties, acting on their own initiative rather than waiting for orders from their bosses. One such incident involved the abduction and robbery of a businessman in Hurlingham, a case where the DPP eventually recommended charges against the operatives but was saved by phone calls from their superiors.

 The line of command is further delineated by the political allegiances within the unit. DCI Director Amin, DIG Lagat, a State House-based public servant, and CS Murkomen all have their preferred lieutenants who lead their own specific assignments. This creates a complex web of loyalty, where the unit serves multiple masters but ultimately answers to the shadow hand at State House.