In a bid to curb cases of highway robberies along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway, detectives in Voi, Taita Taveta County have apprehended three individuals believed to be the masterminds of the crimes.
The three, David Karanja, Juma Jumamosi, and Josephine Nthamba Mutie, were arrested following a brazen robbery that occurred on April 9, 2025.
On that fateful day, an Isuzu FRR truck transporting gypsum from Nairobi to Mombasa was attacked.
As the vehicle approached Ikanga area, one of the suspects dashed out from a nearby thicket, attempting to cross the road. In a split-second decision to avoid collision, the driver swerved, causing the truck to veer off the road and its engine to stall.
Seizing this opportunity, a group of about five emerged from the bushes, forcefully entering the vehicle with one brandishing a pistol. The driver and his co-driver were handcuffed and bundled behind the seats. One of the robbers took the wheel, steering the lorry towards Mombasa. The two victims were unceremoniously dropped off about 300 meters away as the criminals vanished with the truck.
Following this incident, detectives launched investigation, and through forensic analysis, two of the suspects, Karanja and Jumamosi, were trailed and arrested at a hideout in Taveta. During their apprehension, Jumamosi led officers to his rented house in Bahati area, Taveta Sub-county, where a number plate KDC 020G belonging to the stolen lorry was recovered, alongside a T-shaped screwdriver and two spanners.
The duo was subsequently presented before the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Voi on May 19, 2025, where detectives were granted a 14-day custodial order to further their investigation.
As the search continued, a third key suspect, Nthamba, was apprehended in Makindu on June 2, 2025. She too was charged at the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Voi, where detectives received an additional 14-day custodial order to complete their investigation and pursue further leads to arrest additional suspects involved in these highway robberies, as well as to recover the stolen lorry.
