Nairobi CBD has become one of the most unsafe places in the city, with increasing cases of daylight muggings – some of them taking place in some of the busiest streets.

Perhaps one of the instances which demonstrates the seriousness of the problem is an incident in January where Assistant Inspector-General of Police Francis Njeru was robbed in broad daylight while walking to his office in the CBD.

DCI

Njeru had withdrawn Sh400,000 from a local bank, all which he lost to the daring thugs.

The incident helped shine a light on a new cartel that was suspected of working with bank staff to rob off customers who withdraw huge sums of money.

Yesterday (Wednesday), the Directorate of Criminal Investigations announced they had arrested one of the masterminds of the robbers identified as Godfrey Sangare Ambani earlier in the year but regretted that he had been released on a cash bail.

Return of muggers

“Members of the public are cautioned to be wary of the following suspects led by one Godfrey Sangare Ambani, who master minds daylight muggings within the CBD and robbery of clients who have just withdrawn money from their banks,” the DCI said in a press statement.

The DCI said that there were no incidents of muggings during the time Ambani was in custody but noted that the deadly gun of robbers had resumed after he was released.

“Ambani was arrested by our officers on 19th October after being captured on CCTV robbing a man shortly after he had stepped out of a bank, but he was released on cash bail. For the entire period he was in custody, not a single mugging incident was reported in town only for the muggings to resume after he was released and spotted in the streets. We call upon members of the public to immediately alert the Police should they spot him or get robbed on the street,” the statement added.