Police are holding in custody a suspected notorious thief arrested in Mombasa’s Mwembe Tayari area.
The suspect was arrested on Wednesday by Mwembe Tayari Chief Mohamed Musa.
“His modus operandi (MO) is to bait unsuspecting victims with a fake bundle of money. He then lures them to a designated place in the name of sharing the money where he then robs them of their valuables including forcing them to withdraw money from their mobile phones,” said Chief Musa.
According to the Chief, the designated area for sharing money is around DT Dobie where his partner joins the suspect and unknowing victim claiming he was the owner of the money.
The partner also brings along a list of items meant to be bought with the money and a broken mobile phone which the victim is forced to pay for.
Speaking to Baraka FM, Chief Musa said he arrested the suspect while in the process of carrying out the crime just in front of the Chief’s office at Mwembe Tayari.
“We have received many reports of people claiming to have been robbed in the area just outside Naivas. Today I caught him red-handed, he had just dropped the fake bundle of money to bait a victim. During his arrest, he tried to remove the top note from the fake bundle in a move to hide evidence but members of the public helped apprehend him in time,” said Chief Musa.
The suspect is being held at Central police station. Anyone who has ever been a victim has been asked to make their way to the police station for follow-up.
