An incident involving the theft of electronic equipment and the breaking and entering of Constituency Development Fund (CDF) is being looked into by police in Nyali Sub-County, Mombasa County.
According to Sub-County Police Commander Daniel Mumasaba, forensic investigations have been conducted at the crime scene to determine who the burglars are.
“Our security team manning the compound in which the CDF office was domiciled found a man with a backpack walking out of the office and when they attempted to stop him, he jumped over the fence and fled,” added Mumasaba.
According to the Nyali Police Chief, six police officers patrolling the compound, which also houses other government offices, fired one gunshot at the criminal, who is suspected of entering the facility by jumping over the outer wall.
Deputy County Commissioner, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), and other government offices are housed within the Critical Infrastructure Protection Unit (PCU)-guarded compound.
Mumasaba also mentioned that they had gathered CCTV video and cleaned the entire crime scene in order to gather watertight proof and identify the men.
Two TVs that were placed in the waiting area and one office of the one-story Nyali CDF office building were taken by the thieves.
“We cannot provide timelines to provide the finding of our investigations which we are certain, will yield results,” the OCPD added.
Separately Nyali Member of Parliament (MP), Mohamed Ali, called for speedy investigation into the incident, which he linked to his political rivals.
“We want police to conduct thorough investigations and identify those who were involved in the attack on my office,” Ali said, adding the criminals appeared to have a specific motive, wondering why they did not steal valuable items, including over 30 laptops worth a lot of money.
“They ransacked each of the offices before leaving with two television sets leaving behind laptops worth thousands of shillings. I want police to do a thorough investigation and bring the culprits to book,” he added.
He claimed that this is the third attack on his CDF offices since his election in 2017 that has taken place without the offenders being apprehended.
Hassan Omar, a UDA candidate for governor in Mombasa County, described the incident as an attempt to intimidate and silence alternative voices in local politics.
“They stole the two television sets to disguise the real intention. It was a systemic, preconceived and planned attack, aimed at instilling fear on Mohamed Ali and the UDA brigade,” added Omar.
The party senatorial candidate, Hamis Mwaguya, said the attack on the Nyali CDF offices was triggered by Ali’s political stand in the County. “No amount of intimidation and other forms of threats will deter our resolve to emancipate Mombasa people from bad governance,” added Mwaguya.