Kenya Power equipment worth Ksh.20M seized in Ruiru

Kenya Power equipment worth Ksh.20M seized in Ruiru

Police seized Kenya Power equipment valued at over Ksh.20million at a private residence in Membley estate, Ruiru.

One suspect, Joseph Kihara, was arrested and is being grilled by detectives in Ruiru.

He is the owner of the house that was raided and has been identified as a Kenya Power and Rural Electrification Authority certified contractor.

The materials recovered include aluminum conductors, electrical cables, electric poles and transformer accessories which police say were for Loiyangalani Kenya Power line in Turkana.

According to Kiambu Police Commander Adiel Nyange, the suspect had been sub-contracted by the Chinese Electrical Engineering Company.

It is a power company contracted by the government to offer logistics services to Turkana. Kihara is said to have switched off his phone after he got the deal on August 8 this year.

Kenya Power security chief officer Samuel Njue claims that the suspect may have colluded with other employees.

“The rate at which the electric cables were being cut, coated with oil to conceal evidence and their source is enough indictment to confirm Kihara as a vandal,” he said.

Njue added that the stolen materials are believed to have been stored within the suspect’s compound before selling to large-scale metal dealers.

According to him, Kenya Power loses over Ksh.200million worth of equipment every year to theft.

Last year alone, the company lost Ksh.19million after 38 transformers went missing.

The incident comes in the wake of the arrest of company bosses including former MD Ben Chumo among 12 others over alleged corruption at Kenya Power.

Photos/ANN NGIGE NYAMU

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KENYA POWER

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