New horror crime hits the city of Nairobi

A new wave of kidnappings has hit the county, but what confuses even the police, however is that gangsters take hostages, demand huge amounts from their families before killing them, regardless of whether the money is paid or not, county police boss Benson Kibui  has  said.

Some, Mr Kibui said, move around in saloon cars with tinted windows and may pretend to offer lifts to passengers at bus stops,  especially during the evening and morning peak hours.

The  death of  Mr David Macharia a commercial pilot who was working with Wilson Airport is the latest of such kidnappings.

Disappearance

The body of the  50-year-old man was found inside a septic tank on Thursday after the family had reported his disappearance and demand for cash by thugs.

The criminals rent houses in upmarket areas, where they lock up their victims to use them in demanding ransom, after which they kill them in secluded places.

Such bodies may later be discovered long after the kidnappers broke contact and possible trails for arresting them faded.

After netting their victims, they are said to spray a drug that makes them lose consciousness before robbing them and demanding money from their families.

Sometimes they collude with matatu crews in the evenings to steal from passengers.

Even after families send them money, Mr Kibui said, the kidnappers still kill, probably to  make investigations difficult as in the case of Mr Macharia.

The pilot was living in the airport compound alone. His  family only found out that he had been kidnapped when they received calls from the  people who demanded Sh10 million ransom.

The family reported back to the police  on  Thursday evening that they had found Mr Macharia’s body.

They had negotiated the price to Sh50,000 then to Sh20,000 and the gangsters later   agreed to release the man after the family  paid   Sh10,000 through an M-Pesa agent, little knowing they would not see him alive.

Langata divisional police boss  Titus  Yoma  said: “ The body had been inside the tank for two to three days, which meant the kidnappers  killed him even before they contacted the family.”

Mr Kibui said two people  were saved  by a Good Samaritan at Kiserian from a gang of six men who had kidnapped them on Mombasa and taken to Kibiku area in Ngong, where the kidnappers kept calling their families  to demand ransom.