Gang robs diplomat, uses ATM cards to shop, buy expensive liquor

Europe & Commonwealth Directorate director Jean Kimani. She was robbed at gunpoint in her Kileleshwa home. [Courtesy]

Armed criminals who attacked a diplomat in Nairobi went on a shopping spree after withdrawing money from her accounts and used her credit cards for binge drinking.

According to investigators, the suspects emptied the M-Pesa accounts for the Europe & Commonwealth Directorate director Jean Kimani, and used her credit cards to pay for foodstuff and alcohol.

They also transferred money from her M-Pesa to other mobile numbers believed to be those of their relatives and friends, police records show.

These suspects, detectives believe, were captured on CCTV cameras inside a supermarket pushing trolleys full of foodstuff and other household items.

One suspect, who had worked for her for about a year, was also captured walking out of an ATM machine before proceeding to the supermarket.

Images of the men offloading bundles of wheat flour, baby diapers and huge containers of cooking oil have been forwarded to investigators from the Directorate of Criminal investigations (DCI) Special Crime Prevention Unit.

Yesterday, an identification parade was conducted by the police and the diplomat picked out her attackers.

She shocked the police when she revealed how one suspect pleaded with his accomplices not to harm her.

Her description of the suspect as a “gentleman” may have shocked the investigators who are convinced that the man was the gang leader.

“That is the gentleman who asked them not to hurt me,” Kimani is reported to have told the investigators during the identification parade.

Hired man

Those in police custody include the gardener and a second man hired to repair a gate at the home.

The gunmen stormed the diplomat’s Kileleshwa home on the night of June 27. She was alone in the house. They found her in the kitchen preparing a meal.

Kimani told police the suspects accessed the compound using a master key, which they used to open the gate and doors to the main house. Two men were armed with knives while one had a pistol.

She told the police that the men threatened to kill her if she raised the alarm. They tied her mouth with a piece of cloth and her hands too.

They then ransacked the house and stole a 52-inch television set worth Sh40,000, a printer worth Sh30,000, mobile phones worth Sh60,000 and jewellery worth Sh300,000. They escaped in the diplomat’s Toyota Prado with the items.

Three days after the robbery, the suspects were still roaming city streets in the stolen car. Their partying came to a shock end after police arrested three of them driving the car in Buru Buru estate.

The officers reported that they flagged down the vehicle, which still had its initial number plates and searched the driver.

Police found Kimani’s business and ATM cards, which the suspects were using to pay for shopping at the supermarket and also fuel the vehicle.

Police investigations have pointed to a possible collusion between the suspects and the diplomat’s domestic workers.

“We are still analysing their phones to establish a communication pattern,” Special Crime Prevention Unit boss Pius Gitari said yesterday.