Kayole police arrest two robbery suspects targeting taxi hailing operators
The two are Peter Okola and Befley Mokeira believed to be members of a gang that lured the four riders to a similar destination where they were all robbed.
Police in Nairobi’s Kayole estate have arrested two people suspected of taking part in four robberies targeting online hailing bodaboda riders.
The two are Peter Okola and Befley Mokeira believed to be members of a gang that lured the four riders to a similar destination where they were all robbed.
The four complainants; Peter Githini, Joseph Kihato, Isaiah Mukaria and Meshack Njoki who picked the passengers in Nairobi city centre before dropping them at an area in Kayole where they were robbed in similar circumstances.
The victims were robbed of mobile phones, money and personal belongings at gunpoint after dropping the “passengers”.
Police say Ngala and were found with a mobile phone stolen from one of the victims of the robberies.
The victims reported the robberies at the Kayole police station between May 24 and June 8, 2025 vide Occurrence Book (OB) numbers – 45/24/5/2025, 59/28/5/2025, 76/6/6/2025 and 16/8/6/2025.
The victims told the police that they received irequests for rides from Okola and Mokeira who hailed the riders to drop them at Kayole area from Nairobi city centre.
In an affidavit filed at the Makadara law courts, police officer Charity Kagwiria of Kayole police station explains that the riders were being robbed at the same place upon dropping the “passengers” at different times.
Kagwiria told the court that she is investigating cases of robbery with violence in contravention of section 296 (2) of the criminal procedure code where Okola and Mokeira are suspects.
Their accomplices are being pursued by the police, according to Kagwiria who filed an application in court on behalf of the Kayole police, seeking custodial orders to detain the two for 14 days to aid in investigations into the robberies.
“A manhunt for the suspects commenced and on May 7, 2025 and two suspects (Okola and Mokeira) were arrested within Nyamavilla area by the applicant’s investigators, and a mobile phone, make Tecno (number withheld), suspected to have been stolen from one of the victims found in possession of (Okola,” Kagwiria says in the affidavit.
Kagwiria says all the complainants in the robberies were robbed of mobile phones, money and valuables immediately upon dropping the passengers at Log area, which was the destination where all of them were directed to take the clients.
The suspects transferred the complainants’ money from Mpesa accounts to different Mpesa accounts, according to Kagwiria.
One of the complainants lost everything including their motorcycle during robberies by armed men.
“One of the men was armed with a pistol and three others with knives where they threatened to harm the victims if at all they were going to resist while they were being robbed of money, phones and valuables,” states Kagwiria.
“There is a need to obtain all victims’ M-pesa statements to shed light on where their money was transferred after their mobile phones were stolen and all the suspects’ numbers.”
Kagwiria highlighted 11 mobile phone numbers belonging to the two suspects and which are subject to forensic examination as part of the ongoing investigations.
She was seeking orders of the court to keep the suspects in custody at Kayole police station for 14 days during the investigations into the robberies.
The remaining part of investigations that necessitate detention of the suspects include identification parade; recovery of the firearm used in the robberies and the stolen motorbike.
Others include obtaining call data records and M-pesa statements for all the suspects’ and Mpesa statements of the victims. They also include forensic analysis of the suspects’ mobile phones.
Senior Principal Magistrate Joseph Karanja granted the custodial orders to help in the investigations.
