On Saturday, residents of the Kigumo area in Murang’a took on the role of vigilantes when six masked individuals invaded a local businessman’s property with the intent to kidnap him.
In media interviews, the neighbors recounted that they heard a disturbance at Nduati Macharia’s residence in the early hours of Saturday and that they came out in droves to assist.
It has been reported that the men, who were pretending to be government officials, stopped Macharia’s son outside the main gate and asked him where his father was.
“I pretended I was an employee and told them that the man of the house was with the cattle. I told them I did not know anything as I was merely a worker here but they said they knew who I was and I should produce my father,” the son narrated.
The six individuals, who were masked and donned dark glasses, then burst into the main house where Macharia’s wife was located. At this point, she sounded the alarm, causing hundreds of neighbors to come to the scene.
They inquired about my husband’s whereabouts, and upon my questioning of their reasoning for entering the house so forcefully and before me, they conducted a thorough search of the premises but overlooked him. The wife added, “They asked again where he was, but I told them I had left him in there.”
The businessman stated that the fraudulent revenue officials alleged he had defaulted on a loan of Ksh1.3 billion from a local bank.
They possessed documents and informed me that they were arriving from that bank. He recounted, “They informed me that I possessed a loan amounting to Ksh1.3 billion, but I’ve never had an account at that bank.”
Fortunately, the neighbours who heard the distress call came to the house, reporting that a suspicious black Subaru was parked outside the gate.
Their arrival at the home startled the intruders, causing them to flee without their neighbor as they had allegedly intended.
This was particularly vital, given that three well-known entrepreneurs from the same area had already vanished without explanation, causing the residents nearby to remain watchful.
