How fake cop planned city’s Sh72m h***t
Investigations into the Sh72 million G4S heist have taken a new twist with reports that one of the suspects hitherto believed to be a police officer is an impostor.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) had identified the first suspects to be arrested – Chris Ayienda Machogu and Wycliffe Vincent Owuor – as police officers, but it has now emerged that the latter had for many years been impersonating security officials.
Ironically, Owuor is said to have been one of the three masterminds of the robbery, alongside an AP officer based at Kapedo, Baringo county and a civilian, both of whom are on the run.
Deputy director of communications at the National Police Service Anthony Munga yesterday confirmed that though Owuor had presented himself as a police officer to G4S staff when he was arrested, investigations had revealed he was not.
“We have confirmed that he presented himself as an officer but upon interrogation and further investigations, it was established that he was not a police officer,” Munga said.
Police was also trying to establish whether Ayienda was still in service after noticing gaps in his identification documents.
Investigations into the theft last Thursday have also implicated two MPs – one an opposition lawmaker from Nairobi.
It was not clear what role the MPs played in the five-month scheme that initially targeted Sh200 million, according to detectives.
The team, intelligence sources said, had infiltrated the G4S system and mastered cash escort duties conducted by Administration Police.
Detectives said phone data analysis played a crucial role in unravelling the theft that has seen more than 10 people arrested.
Phone triangulation revealed that at least three numbers were active in Nairobi West and the owners went in the same direction after the theft.
The three phones, according to analysis, were switched off at Thogoto forest in Kiambu.
Call data showed that after the switch off, new numbers started calling the suspects’ friends and relatives. It is the new numbers that the police used to track down the suspects.
First to be arrested was Ayienda, an AP constable said to be based in Kikuyu, who was found with Sh4 million at a hotel in Kisii town. Ayienda is a graduate of the KCA University where he graduated in 2012 with a Bachelor of Commerce degree.
Ayienda, who was a student leader at the university, attempted to vie for the Utalii Ward seat in Nairobi in 2013 on an ODM ticket but was eliminated in the primaries.
Upon interrogation, he led detectives to Seka village in Kendu Bay, Homa Bay, where his accomplice Owuor was found and arrested. Police recovered Sh3 million from him.
Owuor maintained he was a police officer and even gave detectives his “service number” 101427. He had been posing as a patrol (SPIV) officer based at Kayole and sometimes said he was based at Spring Valley Police Station in Nairobi.
He is said to be familiar with police operations and has been seen moving around in police uniform and equipment.
Detectives said the suspect said he had bought the Subaru Forester at Sh1.5 million last Thursday on his way home.
It is suspected the masterminds arranged for the issuing of G3 rifles to the suspects without recording the same in the Arms Movement Register.
It is believed the firearms were secretly returned to the armoury and the main suspect is said to be the wife of an officer based in Kapedo.
Gateway car
It has also emerged that G4S managers did not check details of officers involved in cash escort duties and when the names of APs who were supposed to escort the Standard Chartered Bank money were called out, Owuor and Ayienda, dressed in police uniform and armed with G3 rifles, responded and left.
When the actual officers assigned the duties arrived, they were told that “they” had already collected the cash.
The two officers said they arrived late, as they were not picked up at home, as is the norm.
It has also been established that the G4S staff who made the initial report to police lied that they did not see the getaway car.
Police believe this was deliberate to give the suspects ample time to hide the cash.
The suspects had disabled CCTV cameras at the G4S warehouse and inside the Standard Chartered ATM lobby in Nairobi West.
Detectives had to rely on cameras mounted in different locations around Witu Road in Industrial Area and in Nairobi West, which captured the suspects’ faces and the cars they were using.
There is no evidence to show the security guards were forced to reveal passwords for the ATM in Nairobi West.
A day after the theft, 13 empty cash boxes were found in Thogoto forest. Investigations have shown that the gang had hired two vans to ferry the loot.
After the theft, the getaway driver duped an unsuspecting friend to return the van, registration number KCE 920E, to its owner.
The second vehicle was later found at a garage in Kikuyu where its colour was being changed from white to black.
Detectives arrested gospel rapper Patrick Kagaba, alias Kamlesh Kagaba, but he was released on Sunday.
He was arrested at his garage in Kikuyu on Friday after the vehicle was found there.
The revelation that Owuor is an impostor is likely to further dent the image of the police service.
For 10 years, Waiganjo is said to have roamed the Rift Valley, with Njoro police station being his “work station”, despite being a fake policeman.
