How DCI Officer Posing As 'Mare Mare' Seller Cornered Most Wanted Thug

The detectives who were acting on intelligence leads traced Muruthi to his rented house located at Githunguri, Ruai, on the outskirts of the city.

How DCI Officer Posing As 'Mare Mare' Seller Cornered Most Wanted Thug
ATPU officers in training. /CAPITAL GROUP

Detectives based at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Starehe on Wednesday afternoon, August 17 gunned down a notorious thug who was the head of a Ruai-based gang in Nairobi, responsible for the rise in armed attacks within Ruai and its environs.

Paul Muriithi Naomi alias Muruthi, who has been on the detectives’ radar for the past few months was fatally wounded in a barrage of gunfire after he defied orders to surrender. 

The detectives who were acting on intelligence leads traced Muruthi to his rented house located at Githunguri, Ruai, on the outskirts of the city.

A photo of Ruai town. /FILE

"The battle-hardened crime busters credited for ridding Mathare, Huruma and Pangani of criminal gangs, hastened Muruthi’s appointment with his creator after he shot at them from one of the windows of his house," stated the DCI in part.

One of the DCI officers went undercover posing as a hawker and infiltrated the thug's neighbourhood purporting to sell common household items to earn a living.

He approached the thug's house and kept knocking, but upon the response, the thug chased him away.

"Known for high-level deception while smoking out hardened criminals, one of the detectives posing as a ‘mali mali’ dealer had approached the thug’s neighbourhood shouting mareeeee, mareeeeee! while carrying some basins and laundry baskets. 

"He then knocked on the thug’s door repeatedly until the miscreant unlatched the door halfway. Niukugura mare? (Will you buy mare?) posed the officer. Dikwenda na dugoke guku ringi! (I don’t want and don’t come back here!) retorted the thug as he banged the door," added the DCI.

Moments later the detectives knocked, introduced themselves and requested for an audience with the thug.

But he instead responded with fire, shooting at the officers from a window. A shootout then ensued as the detectives responded to the provocation with precision. 

Moments later, the thug was subdued and the sleuths gained entry to the house, where his lifeless body was sprawled on the floor.

A Ceska pistol serial number B 681256 loaded with four rounds of 9mm calibre was recovered, while 11 spent cartridges littered the scene. 

Upon preliminary investigations, it was established that the firearm had been violently robbed from a civilian firearm holder a week ago. During the ugly incident, the civilian lost valuables worth over Ksh500,000.

Crime scene detectives based at the DCI National Forensic Laboratory, processed the scene as the thug’s body was moved to the city morgue.

DCI officers at a crime scene. /FILE