Police have launched a crackdown on the Naivasha - Mai Mahiu highway following a surge in cases of robbery targeting motorists.
According to the Naivasha office of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, the operation comes after several truck drivers raised the alarm about the spike in carjacking incidents.
In one case, a truck driver lost Ksh3 million to robbers who posed as beggars.
"On the day of the robbery, one of the gang members hitched a lift from the lorry driver near the Gilgil weighbridge. The vehicle was carrying nine tonnes of milk from Salgaa," Naivasha sub-county boss Adan Hassan explained.
"Again, the unsuspecting driver stopped but was immediately attacked, tied with his piece of clothing, bundled into a waiting vehicle, before being abandoned along the escarpment road in Lari," he added.
Detectives who gave the chronology of events disclosed that the carjackers sneak into the neighbouring countries after committing the act.
"We were able to reach the scene, seize a vehicle and arrest two suspects, but the lorry had been driven away by the time the officers arrived," Adan stated.
According to the multi-agency team, the crackdown will involve high-intensity search and screening to flush out gangs who are on the loose along the busy and crucial highway.
So far, the police managed to recover over 500 bags of sugar stolen from a vehicle in transit. The cargo was en route to the Mombasa port when the lorry’s crew was accosted by hijackers.
They also recovered boxes of milk and other commodities stolen from trucks on that busy highway.
A similar operation was launched along Thika road in August after motorists raised concerns over a spate of attacks by individuals posing as hawkers.
Thika police bosses noted that the assailants mostly targeted female motorists plying the highway.
