Police say they are closing in on kidnappers

By Cyrus Ombati

Police are drawing near a gang behind the kidnapping and killing of three women last week.

The bodies of two of the victims were dumped on the Thika Highway on December 3, while the third was discovered in Kabati area in Thika on Monday.

Two suspects were arrested in Embu town on the same day and are being held at Thika and Kasarani police division headquarters.

Police said preliminary findings show the women were all strangled and hit by a blunt object on the head.

Detectives said yesterday they have seized a salon car that was spotted dropping one of the bodies and that they were in hot pursuit of the owners.

Police said the gang seems to be targeting women for unclear reasons and warned against seeking free rides.

The kidnappers were using a stolen car. Police found the vehicle abandoned in Ruaraka area on Monday evening.

One of the victims was a practising lawyer in the city while the second one worked with the City Council of Nairobi. The third, a middle-aged woman, whose body was discovered two days after she went missing from Nairobi, was a businesswoman.

The women had called their relatives, saying they had been kidnapped before the matter was reported to police. The kidnappers, at some point, demanded ransom.

Witnesses said the women had been kidnapped from Kasarani area in Nairobi after hiking a ride to the city centre.

The kidnappers had fooled them they were Good Samaritans helping commuters to the city centre.

Many commuters resorted to free rides when matatu operators went on strike to protest the new traffic laws.

Kasarani OCPD Augustine Nthumbi said they had been investigating cases of the missing women until their bodies were discovered.