New details have emerged about how police outsmarted criminal who was among the most-wanted in the Central region by using one of his many girlfriends to capture and kill him.
According to a report by Daily Nation, Elias Kiriithi Gichuki was captured after his plan to rob an entertainment joint in Majengo went awry.
In the plan, it is suspected that the criminal had gone after a gun and money that was in possession of the joint's owner but his girlfriend, who was working with the police, kept them posted.
They had reportedly obtained Gichuki's phone and managed to pin down his location on Wednesday, September 7, before his planned robbery.
He had a tendency to, periodically, turn his cell phone on and off in an effort to keep officers off his trail but on this occasion, the authorities were relentless and kept an eye on him for more than 20 hours.
At 8 p.m on Thursday, Gichuki arrived at the bar to carry out his usual robberies and that was when the officers attacked him.
The original plan for them was to arrest him but as soon as they ambushed him, he opened fire and they were forced to retaliate.
The shootout went on for roughly 20 minutes before he was overpowered and killed.
“His accomplice managed to flee on a motorcycle but we have officers in pursuit. We recovered a pistol from the suspect and a loaded magazine with 15 rounds of ammunition," confirmed Nyeri Central police boss Paul Kuria.
Gichuki had terrorised the region's residents for almost a year and he was reportedly responsible for the murder of Kamakwa Location Chief Peter Kimiti in July 2018.
