A man almost lost his life while attempting to disconnect electricity at a shopping center in Murang'a county.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the man attempted to remove a fuse from a transformer before getting electrocuted.
In a statement dated Thursday, April 7, the police noted that the man was rushed to a local hospital and is recuperating before he is charged with vandalism.
"A man who attempted to remove fuses from a transformer at Kirarwa market in Murang’a, was electrocuted and his life is hanging in the balance at Thika General hospital where he is recuperating," read the DCI statement in part.
The DCI noted that the man's illegal attempts to cause blackouts in the county had become common.
The detectives noted that there was a syndicate that creates artificial power outages with the aim of swindling money from unsuspecting Kenyans with the promise to reconnect them.
"After the blackout, agents masquerading as Kenya Power officials approach the affected residents and reconnect power to their homesteads at a fee," the DCI noted.
Further, the investigative authority noted that together with employees of the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) they recovered vandalized items belonging to the power utility firm.
"After investigations involving our officers and officials based at the Kenya Power & Lighting Company, we unearthed an elaborate network of individuals who have vandalized a total of 18 transformers leading to huge losses to the government and electricity consumers.
"Detectives drawn from the elite Special Service Unit (SSU) supported by the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) have launched a manhunt for the thugs responsible for the high-level vandalism in Murang'a county and are following crucial leads to unmasking the thugs," noted the DCI.
During an interview on Citizen TV in February, KPLC acting Managing Director, Rosemary Oduor, stated that the power company would start metering its transformers in order to protect them from vandalism.
"We have started on a graded approach and metering of transformers is part of our vision going forward. We have done pilots and it has proven to us that dealing with losses at the transformer level then makes it easier to tackle the losses better," she stated.
