Abducted Standard Group Editor Alex Kiprotich found dumped near Masinga dam

Standard Group Associate Editor Alex Kiprotich has been found safe.

Mr Kiprotich was found at 2am dumped some 10 meters away from Masinga Dam, nine hours after he was abducted along the Gilgil–Nakuru Road by armed men.

In a statement, the news organisation said Mr Kiprotich sought refuge at a nearby household before a Standard Group team located him at around 6. 30am.

“He is safe and okay, though visibly shaken by the ordeal,” read part of the statement.

Kiprotich told colleagues he was taken by four masked men armed with an AK-47, travelling in a Subaru bearing registration KDC 125E, whose check reveals to be a government vehicle.

The vehicle was fitted with a siren, and his captors were clearly police officers armed with AK47 rifles.

At roadblocks along the way, he said, they would engage other officers, who waved the vehicle through without stopping it.

During his captivity, he said, his captors interrogated him repeatedly, pressing him on where the Standard Group gets its stories and how its headlines are decided.

They also asked whether Gideon Moi, a shareholder in the Group, receives visits at Kabarak.

Kiprotich said even as some pressed him on his work, others in the vehicle sought to reassure him, telling him not to worry because, in their words, "ni mambo ya serikali" - it is a government matter.

Kiprotich's abduction on the night of September 1 came just over two months after he narrowly escaped a similar attempt on June 27 2026, when armed men in a Toyota Probox tried to seize him as he drove to work in Nakuru.

That vehicle was traced by Standard Group's own investigations to the National Police Service's Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau; no one has been held to account for it.

He had gone missing shortly before 9.20pm last night, after placing a brief, frantic call to Tom Kipyegon, the Standard Group's head of security.

"Tom, we have been hijacked! We have been hijacked at Gilgil!" Kiprotich shouted, before the line went dead.

Group Chief Executive Officer Chaacha Mwita had earlier issued a statement holding the state responsible for Kiprotich's safety, describing the abduction as a likely attempt to intimidate the Group into silence over its editorial coverage.

The group said it extends its gratitude to all those who helped in the search, including the family that took Kiprotich in and cared for him after he was dumped near Masinga Dam.

Further updates will be provided as they become available.