Irate residents of Gacharu village in Ndia Constituency, Kirinyaga West torched a car believed to have been used by suspected thieves to steal livestock from the village.
According to the residents, cattle theft has been on the rise in recent days.
Unknown people raid homes at night and steal mature cattle which they slaughter on the maize farms before getting away with the beef.
The locals suspect that there might be a network of criminals working together with butchery owners where the beef is sold at a cheap price and then retailed to unsuspecting customers who have no knowledge of the origin of the animal product.
Kirinyaga victim speaks
Joyce Kariuki, one livestock farmer in the affected area in Kirinyaga, was dumbfounded when she found out that her two bulls were missing in the wee hours of the morning.
“I accompanied my husband and we went to check our livestock at around 3 am only to find out that two of our bulls have been stolen,” she said.
After that, her husband went out in the dark in the company of his brother to conduct a search for the missing animals on the neighbouring farms.
“When they were returning, they met two people standing outside a car parked by the roadside. They told my husband that their car had broken down but fled once confronted with a panga abandoning the vehicle,” she narrated.
After that incident, the neighbours came and joined the search party.
One bull was found tethered to an electric post on a nearby farm but it appeared that the other one had already been slaughtered.
“They had slaughtered one bull and stashed the beef in a black vehicle which had already left” she explained.
When the locals realized what had happened, they went towards the road where the suspected car was parked and on opening it, they found various tools like pangas and knives inside.
“There were pangas in the vehicle and some visible blood stains. That is when the residents decided to torch it,” Jane Mwangi, a resident said.
She added that; “They tethered the other animal at an electric post but they had managed to slaughter one bull and made away with the beef.”
One suspect was however arrested and is being held at Sagana Police station as the authorities launch investigations into the matter.
“The suspect is being held at Sagana Police station awaiting interrogation so that we can know the way forward,” Kirinyaga West Sub-county police commander David Kabena said.
