Three suspects believed to be part of a daring AK-47 rifle-wielding gang behind a series of robberies within Eldoret and its environs were on Sunday night shot dead and the rifle loaded with 23 rounds of ammunition recovered.
In the last four weeks alone, the gang whose daredevilry and determination even shocked the police, committed several robberies and even on March 15 shot dead Peter Kamau Njeri, the owner of Blessed Selection supermarket.
As the investigations into the reported cases began, detectives noted that the robberies shared peculiar and distinctive features. The modus operandi were the same.
The gang was believed to be operating in a group of five. Two of them armed with an A-K47 rifle would conduct the raid and the other gang members wait on standby to facilitate escape from the scene.
In five of the cases reported within a period of one month, the gansters struck around 7.30 pm, and in most cases would pose as customers.
Most of these robberies were reported in Turbo and Ainabkoi sub-counties within Uasin Gishu County.
“With the same modus operandi, our officers quickly linked these robberies to this particular AK47 rifle-wielding gang. In one of the cases, they were clearly captured on CCTV,” a senior detective said.
In all the cases where they fired at the scene, all the spent cartridges were recovered and were confirmed to be those for AK-47 rifles.