Police Arrests Suspects, Recover KSh 17 Million From KCB Thika Robbery

Police have arrested three suspects in coection with the KCB Thika robbery on November 20, 2017.

The suspects, identified as Charles Mwangi Murakaru aged 30 years, Halford Munene, 32, and Julius Wainaina, 32, were arrested at Marurui estate in Kiambu on Saturday, November 25.

Read Also: Robbers Dig Tuel To Access KCB Thika Branch, KSh 50 Million Stolen

They led detectives from Thika Police Station to Joy Land estate in Juja town where KSh 17 million, which was part of the KSh 50 million stolen, was recovered.

Police detectives also seized breaking-in instruments from the house as well as various Kenyan national identity cards among other materials.

The exact amount recovered was KSh 17,135,000 which was in various denominations including U.S. dollars, pounds, Canadian and Australian dollars.

The amount included 1311 U.S. dollars, 340 Great Britain Pounds, 5 Canadian Dollars, 85 Australia Dollars, 46,000 Tanzania Shillings, 40 South Africa Rand and 20,000 Ugandan Shillings.

All the cash recovered has according to the police been transferred to the KCB headquarters in Nairobi for safe custody.

The three suspects will be arraigned in court on Monday, November 27.

Read Also: IPSOS POLL: Robbery The Most Common Type Of Crime In Nairobi

The KCB Thika robbery has been described as the most daring heists carried out in Kenya in recent history.

The robbers accessed the bank vault by digging a 30-meter-long, 10-feet deep and two-feet wide tuel into it from inside a stall opposite the Thika divisional police headquarters.

The alleged criminals had been ruing a bookshop in the stall as they carefully executed their plan with no one noticing any suspicious activity.

It was only till after the robbery, when the branch manager, Mr. Samuel Ng’ang’a, opened the vault and noticed a big hole in the ground did anybody know that something had happened.

From the tuel, police recovered an excavator used to dig the tuel. Other items are a welding gas cylinder, gas mask, planks of wood for supporting the tuel, cartons for ferrying the sand, overalls, spirit level, battery and inverter for lighting the tuel during the heist.