Police seek to detain six more suspects in Sh72m heist probe

Police on Monday sought to detain six more suspects linked to Sh 72 million heist for 10 days to conclude investigations.

Milimani Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku was asked to order three police officers – Chris Ayienda, Duncan Kaveshe and Boniface Mutua- alongside Vincent Owuor, Alex Mutuku and Francis Muriuki be held at Langata Police Station for further investigations into last Thursday's robbery at Nairobi west branch of Standard Chartered bank.

Ayienda was arrested in Kisii and police claimed they found Sh4 million. Police claimed he led investigators to Kendu Bay in Homa Bay County, where Owuor was arrested and another Sh3 million recovered.

Also recovered at Owuor’s Kendu Bay house is a brand new Subaru Forester car.

According to lead investigator Hudson Namusasi, he is yet to scrutinize CCTV footage from Standard Chartered Bank headquarters.

Namusasi told the magistrate that he has also not yet received call data drawn from mobile phones of the six.

“The respondent faces daunting criminal charges should there be sufficient evidence adduced in their accusation. It is therefore prudent to establish the truth of the allegations,” said Namusasi.

He told the court that he also needed to process them as they were arrested late last night.

According to the officer, the State intends to charge the six with robbery with violence. They will be charged as either main culprits or accessories to the heinous crime.

“There is a likelihood that the respondents will interfere with investigations and evidence.   The respondents were arrested for being suspects of an offence of robbery. We need to ascertain the relationships between the six respondents and other key accessories in the heinous crime of robbery with violence,” the officer told the court.

He claimed that none of the six had volunteered to take investigators to their houses.