Police have pieced together how convicted Kamiti Maximum Prison escapees travelled from Nairobi to Kitui County, and are currently tracking down an unknown individual roped into the case.
An Assistant Chief at Kamuluyuni area in Kitui detailed that the three, Musharaf Abdalla, Mohamed Abdi Abikar and Joseph Juma Odhiambo, were ferried by a private car from Kamiti Prison to the village.
Nyamai Kalenga, who interacted with the three fugitives, disclosed that one of the convicts explained in detail how they traversed over 160 kilometres from Kamiti, circumvented police roadblocks and interacted with residents in disguise.
“They first told me that they came to Machakos direct from Kamiti (using a private car). From Machakos, they boarded a public van to Kitui, where they also hoped into another PSV to Endau in Mwingi West,” Kalenga recalled the escapees’ narration.
At the shopping centre in Kamuluyuni, efforts to remain disguised failed as residents in the small town are familiar with each other.
The three convicts resorted to walking through the bushes rather than the highway as they feared bumping into police or a mob.
They were reported to have spent the night near a water point and woke up at dawn to proceed with their journey. The convicts, seemingly without a plan on how they would feed and move across the dry land, opted to reach out for help from a woman at the water point.
Musharaf was sent to interact with the woman and plead for help. The convict, however, was at first afraid of approaching the woman so as not to blow off their own cover. He gathered courage and the woman offered him a bottle of water before she continued with her journey.
The two would meet later on when the three appeared at her door before dusk asking for more drinking water. That was on Wednesday, November 17, one day prior to their apprehension.
By then, residents had raised an alarm on the possibility of the three being escapees, forcing the area Chief, Assistant Chief and police reservists to track them down.
The group followed their footsteps trying to map how the trio was roaming the area. An eyewitness who led their capture and apprehension detailed that they walked in zig-zag formation to create confusion and derail their trackers.
"They walked in some sneaky way creating a zig-zag formation and crossed the road from one point to another. They also seemed to avoid any contact with other residents compelling them to walk through thorny bushes," the eyewitness Paul Mwaniki narrated.
Police are still trying to unravel how the trio got money to purchase their necessities and a mobile phone for communication.
Interior Ministry Cabinet Secretary, Fred Matiangi, stated that the three, alongside seven wardens will face new charges. However, he declined to speak on rewarding Ksh60 million to individuals who captured Musharaf Abdalla, Mohamed Abdi Abikar and Joseph Juma Odhiambo.
"No...no...no, we are not going there at the moment. Let us not be speculative about this. We are going to work on this meticulously as my colleagues have said," he responded.
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