A man who hiked a lift on a salon car was robbed of cash and other valuables before being abandoned in a bush in the Makinon area along the Mombasa-Nairobi highway.
John Mutuku who is a resident of Mombasa told police on Saturday night he boarded a private motor vehicle Toyota Wish Silver- whose registration he could not recall at the Sabasaba area within Mombasa, and was destined for Makindu.
Such incidents are common in the area as passengers hike lifts at a fee on vehicles headed for Nairobi.
He said he found five other passengers including three males in the car.
On their way, the driver constantly communicated with one female passenger and another unknown person through their mobile phones.
He said upon reaching the Taru area, the driver stopped and three more people boarded and a different driver took control of the vehicle.
On reaching Mackinnon area the driver switched on the interior car lights and ordered them to surrender their mobile phones and cash from their pockets.
The two female passengers drew out pistols and handed them to their male accomplices who were four in number by then.
The victim said he was robbed of Sh1,200 and his mobile phone.
He was also ordered to access his bank account and had an unknown amount of money withdrawn from there.
He was later tied using a rope in a bush with another unknown passenger within a research firm in the area after being beaten up and forced to surrender their Mpesa pins.
Police visited the scene as part of the probe into the incident.
Police have asked passengers to avoid hiking lifts from unregistered vehicles as part of efforts to address such incidents.
Worker Rescued After Five Days in South African Building Collapse
