NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 19 – Agents from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have launched a manhunt for two thugs captured on CCTV vandalizing Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) transformers in Makindu on Friday night.
The DCI said Saturday the suspects who were armed with spanners were recorded in surveillance footage vandalizing a key power supply unit in the area when a signal was received by detectives manning the SGR system remotely.
The agency stated that a contingent of officers based at Makindu and Emali police stations was dispatched to apprehend the suspects who fled to the nearby bush when they noticed a police vehicle approaching.
“Unbeknownst to the thugs, the transformers fitted with a round-the-clock surveillance system had already sent their images to our command center,” the agency said.
The DCI warned members of the public that vandalizing or tampering with the railway infrastructure would attract charges related to Economic Sabotage and Terrorism.
“As detectives profile the suspects to suffer the consequences of their actions, we wish to inform the public that the railway is a critical national infrastructure under 24/7 surveillance,” the agency stated.
They appealed to members of the public to report any individual found vandalizing railway property for action.
The incident was reported at a time of increased acts of vandalism targeting railway infrastructure.
On November 26, two people linked to the recent vandalism of a section of the SGR line were arrested by authorities.
The two were accused of vandalizing the SGR line in Mtito Andei on November 22, leading to a two-hour delay on a passenger train.
The National Police Service (NPS) said that they managed to recover railway line blocks that had been vandalized on the section.
“In an intelligence-led operation done earlier today (Saturday), police officers recovered all the 22 pieces of Gauge Blocks and one (1) Fish Plate vandalized from the SGR line,” the NPS said in a statement.
The items were part of a haul that was being loaded into a waiting lorry at a scrap metal yard at Machinery trading centre, Kinyambu location, Mtito Andei, police said.
