Two suspects arrested with an identity card belonging to the daughter of media personality Ciku Muiruri and her friend led to their dramatic rescue in the Waiteithie area off Thika Highway in Thika.
The two women were Sunday, June 11 rescued in a dramatic police operation after a week-long stay with their abductors.
Erica Gachoka, 26 and her friend Shanice Agose, 27 were missing for more than a week after their abduction in Nairobi’s Westlands area.
They were rescued from a house in Mangu, Waiteithie area off Thika Highway in Thika, police said.
Two suspects who were holding them were arrested.
One suspect was identified as Muiruri and the other as Kipkirui.
This is after they were found in the Ngoigwa area and one was found with Erica’s identity card.
The two later led police to the Mangu area where they had leased a single room where the women were kept, a few kilometers away.
The women were emaciated when police and other agencies who were present arrived.
Police searched the house and found a mattress without a bed, two 20-liter jerrycans, a bucket, a plastic seat, cello tape, a rope, a candle, fake number plates, a hammer, a knife, and a screwdriver.
Police cordoned off the house during the operation.
Police from the DCI’s Operation Support Unit and other agencies were involved.
During their abduction those behind the drama demanded a ransom of Sh500,000- Sh250,000 for each of the two, police said.
A message had earlier been sent to Muiruri’s brother demanding a ransom of Sh250,000 be sent to her by close of business last Monday.
“Please I was kidnapped last 9te by some Somali and am almost headed to Somalia if 250k is not sent by cob tomorrow. Please help,” read part of the message which was shared with authorities.
Multi-agency teams were deployed and monitored the movements of the kidnappers with the victims for the past week.
They were kept in the Mangu area.
The investigations team kept the family of the woman informed of the progress of their probe.
A distressed Muiruri said the incident happened Sunday, June 4 morning in Nairobi.
The radio legend took to Facebook to share how her daughter Erica and her friend Shanice were abducted by a taxi driver.
She kept using social media in seeking prayers for the women who were missing.
“Peace be with you all. Novena is below. But first, I have a very special favor to ask each and every one of you. In the early hours of Sunday morning (2 am), my daughter and a friend of hers were abducted by a taxi driver,” she wrote.
“We know that prayers can move mountains.
Stop wars.
Please pray for my daughter Erica Njeri and her friend Shanice
Agose as part of your intentions.
Also, and this is very important, pray for those who have taken them, that their souls may not be lost.”
She asked her followers to join her in seeking God’s hand in the matter while also attaching a prayer – part of the catholic
‘Novena’ series of prayers she has been conducting over the last week.
“I’m going to do everything in my power to get her home safely but I know that we cannot even tie our shoes without God’s Grace,” she said.
“I have no control over what they are doing to her, where she is or if I will ever see her alive again. Only God can help her.”
She said she will not eat until she is reunited with her child.
“I will not have a bite to eat until she is safely returned.
And I have faith that with all your prayers, she will be returned to me safe and sound.
Jesus, I Trust in You. Please, Lord, don’t let them harm my baby,” she said.
Erica is a 26-year-old University of Nottingham alumni and the founder of the Le Ngai Foundation.
Erica has been pushing for access to blood for all Kenyans and had participated in the 2013 Chicago Marathon to raise money for a mobile blood unit.
She participated in the race to help the BloodLink Foundation raise Sh4.3 million to purchase a mobile blood donation unit to help mobilize blood donors to ensure sufficient safe blood for needy Kenyans.
