DCI Dismantles Notorious Nairobi BodaBoda Gang

The directorate of criminal investigations (DCI) has reined in on a notorious gang operating on motorbikes to terrorize residents of Kileleshwa and Kilimani.

Taking to their social media platforms on Sunday, January 26, the DCI intimated that they had mounted an operation against the purported criminals and managed to rein in on four of them.

"Following reports of increased cases of criminals operating on Boda Bodas within Kilimani and Kileleshwa, DCI detectives based at Kilimani mounted an intelligence-led operation where four suspects were arrested," the DCI posted.

The DCI announced on January 26, 2020, that it had arrested four suspected bodaboda thugs operating in Kilimani and Kileleshwa.

The four suspects were identified as Abdul Jafar, Derick Simani, Sadiq Mohamed and Hassan Musa Chepkoech.

The sleuths further announced that they had managed to recover one pistol, motorcycles registration number KMFA 500Z, KMET 389K, and two other numberless ones from the suspects.

Incidences of crimes committed by motorbike riders in Nairobi has been on a steady increase in the recent past.

A report compiled by National Crime Research Centre, a State agency under the Interior Ministry in April 2019, indicated that armed robberies at Mpesa shops, shopping malls and in estates across the country are being carried out by gangs on motorbikes.

In the report that surveyed 24 of the 47 counties in Kenya, the state agency warned that if measures were not taken fast enough, the bodaboda-crime crisis was going to hit new highs.

“Like the matatu industry that at one time was infiltrated by lethal gangs like Mungiki, there is fear that bodabodas could be heading the matatu route if adequate policy interventions are not implemented in good time,” the report intimated.

The report recommended mandatory registration of the riders, refresher training, testing, regulation and effective oversight of the industry as a remedy to further infiltration by criminal elements.

According to government reports in April 2019, the rate of collusion between bodaboda riders and criminals is a cause for concern.
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