•The armed gangsters attacked the matatu at midnight as a passenger was alighting
•The driver, conductor and the passenger who alighted have recorded statements
Police are looking for gangsters who hijacked a 14-seater matatu in Lari constituency, Kiambu county and robbed passengers on Tuesday midnight.
The gangsters, who were armed with a home-made gun, knives and clubs, took charge of the matatu at Rukuma trading centre where one of the passengers was alighting.
“When the passenger was alighting, the driver alighted too to answer a call of nature, but the gang attacked and took control of the vehicle,” Lari deputy police subcounty commander Musa Omari said.
The thugs drove the vehicle off the Nairobi Nakuru highway to Matathia where they stopped and robbed passengers ofmobile phones, money, watches and belts before fleeing on foot, Omari said.
Police were alerted of the presence of a vehicle in the village and proceeded there to check what was happening. They found stranded passengers.
Omari said the driver, conductor and the passenger who had alighted had recorded statements.
The Naivasha-bound vehicle had left Nairobi at 10pm.
“This is a trend that used to be reported years ago, but it seems like it’s coming back. We will not give them time,” Omari said.
A NNUS matatu driver Simon Mwangi yesterday urged the police to patrol bus stops instead of camping at roadblocks.
“If such cases have started, then we do not need roadblocks. We need the police at bus stages where people alight and board vehicles to keep suspects away,” he said.
SOURCE: the-star.co.ke
