Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and police officers were on the night of Friday, May 1, 2020, engaged in a fierce shootout with members of an armed gang in Mumias, Kakamega County.
The officers pursued the gang acting on a tip-off after the gang was involved in a violent robbery at Kisumu Ndogo area in Mumias.
The detectives recovered one AK 47 rifle and money to the tune of Ksh 395,000.
"Armed with two AK47 rifles, the gang using a Toyota Axio registration number KCA 650J blocked and deflated by firing their victims' car which was being occupied by three family members (father, mother and son) of Indian origin who were going home at 5 p.m. after closing their hardware located in Mumias town," a statement by the DCI read in part.
The gang made away with Ksh 400,000 and three mobile phones before escaping towards Mumias Sugar Nucleus Estate.
Acting on a tip-off, the officers pursued and caught up with them at the said estate where a shootout ensued, leaving two gang members who were firing from outside the car dead.
Two other members of the gang managed to flee but are being sought by the sleuths.
The incident comes at the back of several crackdowns by the DCI on criminal gangs and activities in the country.
On April 3, 2020, the DCI reined in on a man suspected to have orchestrated a brazen raid at Kibos Police Station that saw the disappearance of guns, magazines, armoury and other police items.
The sleuths announced that they had gotten wind of the suspect and his accomplices after they orchestrated a robbery using the stolen weapons.
"A 19-year-old robbery with violence suspect linked to the breaking and stealing from Kibos Police Post armoury and subsequent robbery of over Ksh 230,000 from an Mpesa operator at Daraja Mbili in Kisumu was today arrested by DCI detectives at his Kanyakwar home village in Kisumu," the DCI wrote.
The sleuths informed that the Mpesa operator was on March 29, 2020, accosted by a gang of five men armed with a G3 rifle to her house, robbing her of the said amount, three mobile phones and a TV set before escaping on 2 motorcycles.
