A daring Nairobi phone snatcher survived death by a whisker after robbing an armed undercover cop along the busy Murang'a Road in downtown Nairobi on Wednesday, August 18.
The youth, snatched the civilian policewoman's phone as the public watched before he fled into the crowd towards the Central Business District.
A chase immediately ensued with the policewoman rallying the crowd to nab the thug, who had not realised the identity of his victim.
On realising that the phone snatcher was too quick for her, the officer was reported to have shot twice in the air to alert a gathering crowd and to scare the robber.
"We were surprised and alerted by the woman's screams. She was calling on the passers-by and on-lookers to assist her to apprehend the swift thug," one eyewitness narrated.
"The residents came to her rescue when she fired two gunshots in the air."
The undercover officer further intervened and shielded the running thief from being lynched by the angry mob that had managed to get hold of him.
"She handcuffed the robber and strolled with him to Central Polie Station for further interrogation," witnesses stated adding that she appeared to be calling for backup fearing that the mob would ambush her and lynch the thief who was pleading for his life.
A detective - assigned to be on the lookout for thugs, muggers and armed robbers in CBD - who spoke to Kenyans.co.ke, stated that they were surprised by the audacity of the youth who rob the residents without thinking of the consequences.
The incident created a buzz within the unit, especially a month after footage depicted a policeman being robbed of his phone by a pillion passenger riding on a motorbike, around Thika Road Mall (TRM) along Thika Road.
“The National Police Service (NPS), however, refuted the July 2021 incident stating that “Our investigations have revealed that a video circulating on social media insinuating to be of a police officer being snatched a phone is a manipulated video whose intention is malicious.
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“We urge members of the public to ignore it.”
In April 2021, CCTV camera’s captured a Nairobi resident opening fire at two thugs who attempted to rob him. A security guard, nonetheless, passed on after he was struck by one of the stray bullets as the thieves scampered for safety.
Following the escalating criminal activities in Nairobi, Inspector General of Police, Hillary Mutyambai, deployed a special unit to deal with muggings, murders and robbery with violence cases.
"We have a special anti-mugging squad that handles robbery with violence incidents, including the ones that involve boda boda riders. We have been engaging the operators through a sensitization program dubbed Usalama Barabarani (Road safety) on abiding by the rule of law," Mutyambai announced in June 2021.
