Police in Machakos on Friday evening shot dead a suspected carjacker and arrested another during an operation that led to the recovery of a stolen Isuzu D-max truck.
The police said they also recovered a toy pistol.
According to Machakos Police Commander Patrick Lobolia, the suspects are believed to be part of a gang that has been attacking and robbing locals.
Loboli said the arrested suspect was used by the syndicate to deactivate vehicle tracking systems installed in the stolen vehicles.
He said they had registered a trend where thugs targeted such recovered vehicles along Mombasa Road.
“We believe that once stolen the vehicles are taken to a neighboring country,” he said.
He added the suspects rented out the recovered truck from a car hiring service based at City Cabanas after they claimed that they needed it to ferry some items to Machakos.
Once they paid for the vehicle, which came with an in-house driver, the suspects reportedly left for their alleged destination.
They reportedly commandeered the vehicle and disabled two tracking devices in the car as they made their way to Machakos but the vehicle’s driver managed to escape and contact police at Kyumbi Police Station.
“The suspects disabled two car tracking devices but were unaware of a third one that enabled police to locate them and give chase,” said Loboli.
A team of police officers caught up with the gang at Mutituni, with some of the suspects managing to escape in another vehicle, he said.
Police said they recovered mobile phone lines from the vehicle and a toy pistol.
The hunt for the other suspects who managed to escape is ongoing, police said.
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