Police in Mwea are now calling for a suspected thief to turn himself in to the police station or face lynching by members of the public.
This comes hours after two suspected car thieves were rounded up in Mwea, beaten up and later set ablaze in public.
The two were said to have stolen a Toyota Fielder from a KCB Bank officer after trailing him to his residence.
They were to later disable the car’s tracking system to avoid being monitored. What followed is a careful dismantling of the vehicle parts for sale in the black-market.
Mwea OCPD Dorothy Gaitenga said the vehicle in question belonged to the bank’s employee based at Ngurubani town branch.
“This employee resides in Embu town, but works at Ngurubani town. Since the two suspects have been identified as coming from both towns, there is a possibility they had been tracking the banker to his residence from where they stole the vehicle,” she said.
Chilling confession
The suspects are said to have been subjected to violent interrogations from where they confessed to have been behind a string of car theft incidents in the area.
They said they would sell the dismantled car parts in Nairobi or even Thika to renown spare dealers.
On the run
The two hailed from Embu and Ngurubani towns. Their accomplice, who is on the run, was also said to come from Ngurubani.
Wednesday, Gaiteinga said a hunt for the suspect on the run was underway and asked him to surrender to the nearest police station to escape the wrath of the mob.
Motor vehicle spare part dealership is a lucrative business locally. It is, however, largely unregulated, creating a loophole for criminals.