Three General Service Unit Officers were on Wednesday arraigned at the Mavoko Law Courts for kidnapping a Chinese national in Machakos County on January 8, 2024.
In a statement, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) revealed that the State is seeking custodial orders to complete investigations as the manhunt for the kidnapping mastermind, also a Chinese national gathers pace.
According to the DCI statement, the victim was kidnapped while en-route to work during which, the 3 GSU officers waylaid him, blocked his vehicle, and bundled him into their car before speeding off towards the Machakos direction.
“After hours of disappearance, concerned friends reported to the DCI of the businessman who never arrived at his workplace as expected, where detectives forensically traced him to Mua Hills in Machakos,” the statement read.
Through their own investigations, DCI detectives would later establish that five people inclusive of the 3 GSU officers and two Chinese nationals including the main mastermind were behind the kidnapping.
As reported by the DCI, the main mastermind contacted the victim's family back in China and demanded ransom of an unspecified amount which was wired to a bank account in the foreign nation.
Once the money was received in the other end, the victim was released.
Hours after the ordeal, the victim later turned up shaken up in Athi River and gave his account of the ordeal to law enforcement officers. He explained that the officers had robbed him violently.
DCI detectives would later narrow their investigations to two vehicles believed to have been used in the abduction.
Detectives subsequently tracked one of the vehicle's owner who informed the detectives that he had lent the vehicle to one of his friends during the day when the crime took place.
Investigations would later establish that one of the masterminds was an employee at the company where the victim worked.
Throughout the operation, this mastermind was in constant communication with the arrested GSU officers.
However, the main suspect, a Chinese national is still at large as investigations continue. Meanwhile, Interpol is pursuing the gang's accomplices in China.
