Police officers based in Kiandai, Kirinyaga county, on Tuesday, December 27, descended on and arrested three suspects who impersonated Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) employees.
The conmen had vandalized KPLC’s power lines and poles leaving the village in darkness.
According to witness accounts, the impersonators disconnected the power lines serving the Kiandai village and bundled the vandalized cables into one of their waiting cars.
By the time the villagers intercepted the conmen, they had also brought down and loaded five KPLC poles into one of the three vehicles that were on standby.
Reports indicated that members of the public decided to interrogate the gang after noticing their suspicious activities.
“We demanded to see their company identification documents but none of them had one,” one of the witnesses recounted to NTV.
On noticing they had been cornered by the angry mob, two of the three men fled leaving their three counterparts behind who were later arrested.
The area chief and police officers from the Baricho Police station, however, had a hard time containing and convincing the irate mob to allow them to arrest the criminals.
“We are very angry and that is why we have decided that these people must reconnect the power lines that they had vandalized before they are taken to the police station,” another witness stated.
The quintet had already vandalized more than five poles and several power cables before being accosted by the members of the public.
In the recent past, cases of vandalism of the KPLC installations have been on the rise.
Elsewhere, the electricity supplier blocked multiple meter numbers in a crackdown on consumers who had defaulted on paying their accrued electricity bills.
