The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has unmasked the faces of two men believed to be members of a gang involved in several break-in incidences in Nairobi.
The unveiling of the faces comes after the DCI mounted an operation to rid the city of the criminals.
Among those who were unmasked is 42-year-old Amos Odera Audo who featured in various crime footage.
Audo was ambushed at his Kaloleni hideout around the City Stadium in Nairobi.
Another accomplice John Musiyo Mbingu was also arrested at a Kibera court where he was appearing for a hearing in a similar car-breaking charge.
While Amos Odera remained in police cells following custodial orders, DCI says Musiyo was released on police bail to seek medication but disappeared. A warrant of his arrest has since been issued.
"Odera was arraigned at Kibera Law Courts charged with stealing from a locked motor vehicle, whereby he was released on Sh500,000 bond," DCI said.
"Pursuit of other two known accomplices is ongoing as investigations on the recipients of the stolen valuables continue."
DCI has raised concern over the increasing cases of car break-in incidences believed to have a common market for stolen items.
This can of car breakers, DCI says, mostly targeted shoppers' vehicles at supermarket parking spaces, bank customers withdrawing huge sums of cash, and other motorists in whose vehicles items of value such as laptops, tablets, and expensive smartphones could be seen from outside.
"From using catapults and spark plugs to break car windows to mastering car door locks, the dreadful rings moved with impunity across high-end spots within the capital, to the terror and discomfort of city dwellers," DCI said.
In one such incident on October 7 in Nairobi's Parklands area, a DTB bank client lost Sh1.5 million to a gang of four after his Mazda CX5 was broken into as he picked an item outside the bank.
Weeks earlier, another viral footage that was also shared in the DCI social media platforms had made rounds showing a ring of car breakers stealing from a locked motor vehicle in Nairobi West.
In the incident, the victim had left some Sh466,000 which he had withdrawn moments ago from a bank, a school bag, a laptop valued at Sh105,000, and his mobile phone as he went to a supermarket only to return and find all of them missing.
The unbecoming surge saw the DCI dispatch a team from the Operations directorate which nabbed the infamous catapult gang, as detectives in Lang'ata pursued suspects in the highlighted case.
