Detectives link insiders to Sh11m Barclays robbery

DCI headquarters along Kiambu Road, Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By MOHAMED AHMED
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Summary

• Investigations into a Sh11 million Barclays Bank ATMs heist during the Easter weekend are almost complete, Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) George Kinoti has said.
• Mr Kinoti said investigations reveal that the robbery was an inside job.
• The case will soon be handed over to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji.

Investigations into a Sh11 million Barclays Bank ATMs heist during the Easter weekend are almost complete, Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) George Kinoti has said.

Mr Kinoti said investigations reveal that the robbery was an inside job. The case will soon be handed over to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji.

“Very soon the DPP will be issuing a comprehensive statement on the case and I request him to go hard on this,” said Mr Kinoti in Mombasa yesterday.

He described the thefts as a “constructive robbery done by their own people”.

“They know what exactly happened. The outsiders were just conduits who facilitated the operation. We are going to put this bare to the public,” said Mr Kinoti.

The DCI boss said several people linked to the thefts have been arrested and police are targeting more suspects.

On Monday, detectives detained five suspects. The five were arrested on Mama Ngina Street, Nairobi, where the fourth robbery is said to have taken place.

The other affected ATMs are located in Buru Buru Estate, Kenyatta National Hospital, the Mater Hospital and Cinema Plaza, all in Nairobi. The standalone ATMs, also known as off-site ATMs are managed by G4S as industry practice allows banks to outsource the running of teller machines not affiliated to any of their branches.

Among the issues the detectives want to understand is how the four ATMs were broken into without the security guards, who are normally located within the premises, noticing.

The robberies were all reported more than 24 hours after they happened, raising questions on the possible involvement of security guards who man the affected stations.

Another issue the detectives want to understand is how the ATMs were all robbed hours after being reloaded with money.

Additionally, Barclays is under pressure to explain why two of the ATMs did not have CCTV cameras.

At Mater Hospital, the thieves reportedly smeared the CCTV cameras with petroleum jelly, which left images from the cameras blurred.