Vandals arrested in Mukurwe-ini over transformer theft

Nyeri, Tuesday May 2, 2023

KNA by Wangari Mwangi 

A 32-year-old woman is among four key suspects who were arrested by police in Mukurwe-ini, for stealing and vandalizing Kenya Power Company (KPC) electricity transformers in Nyeri County.

Mary Njoki, together with Stephen Ndung’u (40), Charles Mungania (40) and Samuel Kanyingi (23) were arrested in their hideout in Karindi sub-location in the Gikondi area of Mukurwe-iri on Monday.

According to Mukurwe-ini sub county police commander, Julius Achuka, police received a tip off from members of the public, about some suspicious night activities that had been taking place in the said homestead.

Achuka said that during the raid they managed to recover several sacks filled with copper rolls, ropes that they suspect were used to scale up the electricity poles, pliers and hacksaws.

Police also impounded three motorbikes believed to have been used by the four suspects to ferry themselves and their loot during the theft.

“We received a tip-off from members of the public at 5a.m that people carrying sacks had been spotted in the Karindi area. We got to the house, which we were informed was the main storage area and we found the four people with the said sacks, which contained KPC material,” said Achuka.

The sub county police commander said that they were suspecting that the thieves took advantage of the heavy rains to carry out the theft.

He said that they were also conducting further investigations to establish if the four had previously been contracted by KPC to install electricity transformers.

“These thieves mostly vandalize the transformers during the rainy season because they know people will attribute power outages to the storms and rains. We are also trying to establish their links with KPC because most of the thieves are people who had been given contracts by the organization, so they know how to switch off the power and how to remove components from the transformers,” he said.

Nyeri County KPC business manager Duncan Machuka termed the arrest as a milestone in bringing power infrastructure vandals to book.

He noted that in the month of April alone, a total of eight electricity transformers had been vandalized in various parts of the county.

Machuka noted that the latest victims were Karatina Special School and residents of Gatuanyaga in Mathira sub-county

He further said that the residents of the affected areas were still in darkness as KPC was yet to install replacements due to the high cost associated with transformer repairs.

“It will cost us close to Sh8 million to replace those transformers and we have not accounted for the loss of electricity supply and the suffering of those affected by the power outage and this quite a huge issue. We are still urging members of the community to give us any valuable information so that we can eradicate this menace,” said Machuka.

The four will be arraigned before the Mukurwe-ini law courts Tuesday to face charges of transformer theft.

Courtesy; K.N.A