Six suspects linked to the rampant theft of household items in Homa Bay county were on Thursday, August 18, 2022, arrested as detectives recovered some of the items.
The suspects who are said to have been operating in a gang, engage in robbery with violence, burglary and other criminal activities that have been taking place in the county.
Among the recovered items include fridges, photocopier machines, music systems, generators, computers, solar panels, and woofers.
Confirming their arrest, Homa Bay Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Commander Abed Kavoo said they started the operations last Friday in Homa Bay before extending to Migori, Kisii and Kisumu counties where they managed to arrest the suspects.
One suspect was arrested in Migori while the other five were nabbed in Homa Bay.
“The suspects are under interrogation and we expect them to name their accomplices before they are prosecuted. We urge residents to continue reporting such cases to police for further investigations,” he added.
Kavoo said they have been recording four to five entry cases of theft of similar items at the Occurrence Book and were shocked that some of the security officers are members of the illegal crew.
“The gang usually operate in full police combat and it is unfortunate that some of our officers are also involved in such activities,” he said.
Kavoo said the gang whose main customers are the businessmen have a ready market for their stolen items.
“Rarely do the suspects take home the stolen items, they have a ready market and mainly bar owners who use big TV sets for streaming football matches to the revellers are their main customers,” he noted.
He said the gang mainly targeted electronics like TVs, fridges and gas cookers, woofers, basins, cutleries and other household items.
The six suspects who are detained at the police station include two who are buyers of the stolen items while the others are members of the gang.
The commander has now called the residents who might have lost their household items to report to the nearest Police station as further investigations continue.
