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Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Standard Bank Ghost Robbery Exposes Police Weakness

Kenya Police take a breather, looking exhausted: Outsmarted and outfoxed all the time by hardened criminals


In the early hours of yesterday morning (Kenyan time) there was a bizarre incident at the Standard Chartered Bank along Moi Avenue where a gang of robbers daringly attempted to execute a bank robbery in one of the most guarded and secure banks in East and Central Africa. (Security insiders will tell you that many of the special security measures at this Standard Chartered bank were put in place after a bank robbery in the 80s—then called the mother of all bank robberies—where thugs got away with a record amount of cash. But that is a story for another day.)

The drama that unfolded at the bank most of yesterday morning must leave Kenyans with many questions as to the ability of our police force to win the war against crime by any other means other than shooting and killing every suspect-mingled with the innocent—in sight (as has been happening for some time now.)

Apparently the robbers’ well executed plan went wrong when an alert cashier (a lady) jumped back from entering a lift that she was being pushed into by the thugs. She raised the alarm and this is what ended up frustrating the would-robbery.

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Police arrived and surrounded the bank waiting for the robbers to come out.

Now this is the point where things started going wrong for the police.

What would you do if you were stuck inside a bank surrounded by policemen with drawn guns on the ready? Take a hostage or two to shield yourself on the way out? Well that one does not work in Kenya because chances are that the police will still open fire killing the hostage and you. Yet this is what the police expected the robbers to do.

Luckily for the thugs, the police made it very easy for them. It was decided to evacuate the building so that the police can storm in and get the thugs. The robbers did not need to be rocket scientists to simply dump their weapons somewhere in the building and come out with the members of staff who were being evacuated and many analysts believe that that is exactly how they got away.

In frustration the police arrested the poor guard at the bank who had been tied up by the thugs claiming that he was an accomplice to an inside job. Nobody asked themselves why he raised the alarm when the bank robbers were still in the building. A police spokesman even said on national TV that the bank robbery was poorly planned. I don’t agree. In fact bags full of money were recovered from the building by police. That just tells you that something so small went wrong otherwise the robbers would have gotten away without firing a single shot.

This incident more than any other brings into sharp focus one of the reasons why the police have such a difficult time dealing with criminals. The truth is that they seem to be out-thought and out-foxed most of the time. Sincerely, just think about it for a moment. How can you match the wits of an Eastlands hardened criminal who has grown up in Nairobi all his life with a policeman who was recruited from El Wak and is in charge of giving orders in situations like that of yesterday?

In the new police force Kenyans should build after the current political dinosaurs go home. This issue should be given much though and under-cover operations should be stepped up dramatically if the war on crime is ever to be won. Police recruitment policies should also be reviewed so that the force can attract the right kind of people who will help them begin to outsmart the increasingly sophisticated 21st century criminal.


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14 comments:

  1. stop entertaining us with side shows...tell us about Raila and his role in the fuel saga and maize saga.the rest is side show

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chris

    It appears that the rate at which scandals are cropping up in govt has a relationship to ODM joining the govt and Raila being named PM. Could it be he is really the coordinator and supervisor of these rip-offs! Just sample the following:

    1. A Kenyan drug kingpin has been arrested in UK with cocaine worthy 35 millions. He had been employed by Kenyan Airways after the intervention of the govt cordinator and supervisor.
    2. Mr. Ong'ong'a - Chairman of Kenya Tourism Board has been booted out for corruption. He is a Raila cousin.
    3. Mr. G. Okungu - MD of Kenya Pipeline Company has been sent on leave for fleecing KPC. As the Managing Director he says he didn't know what was happening yet he was the guy who was the link between Triton/KPC and Pan African Petroleum Company (owned by Raila Odinga).
    4. Another scandal is brewing up in the Nyong'o health ministry.

    Is this an aberration or the tip of an iceberg? And this comes hot on the heels of Kajwang' selling Kenya national documents like hot cakes, and ODM warlords stealing maize and causing a national artificial famine.

    Shame be upon the face of the govt cordinator and supervisor for overseeing what is being referred to as "Fleecing of the Nation."

    ReplyDelete
  3. The security situation in Kenya is just rotten. But then, come to think of it, if this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DmEdBZcJgKkQ

    Can be committed by the "father" (President) in our "family" (Country) in broad daylight, is it really any wonder that such incidents of broad daylight THEFT have shot up over the last one year?

    It is not a wonder. The "father" has set a bad example that shouts: STEALING in broad daylight IS OK, STEALING PAYS. That's why now it's one of the fastest growing "professions" in Kenya.

    Get ready for more ridiculous STEALING theaters of the absurd. The "father" has shown the industrious, enterprising and hardworking way to make MBECA.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Scandal after scandal since ODM joined the GK worse than Goldenberg and Anglo-leasing!

    1.Kenya pipeline scandal
    2.Ministry of agriculture- Grains Corruption and handling facilities at the port
    3.Ministry of Tourism-fudged accounts
    4. Local Government ministry misuse of LAFT funds
    5. Drug trafficking by ODM cadres on the rise

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yga5F1MzP_o&eurl

    ReplyDelete
  5. anon 2:19 AM

    I concur. The police the we have in Kenya today is just behaving like the discredited and disbanded Electoral Commission of Kenya that "allowed" the election of 27 dec 2007 to be STOLEN. Different people, same behavior.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Chris,
    Your people are dropping like flies in Ukambani due to starvation and here you are singing praises of Raila, the same person who brought anglo-maizing scandal and food shortage.
    Your ancestors will never forgive you!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mai ma Nguku (Mavi ya kuku)

    This post by Chris is not a about Raila. So stop trying to fraudulently bring in Raila's name over here. Kweli wewe ni MAVI YA KUKU. Unanuka sana.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Why did Raila send them to steal in broad day light? Raila works in the treasury, he could have easily stolen there?

    This is money to be used for campaign. Thank goodness the robbery was sfoiled.

    Raila needs better plans than to send thieves to steal at standard chattered bank.

    ReplyDelete
  9. hahahahhaha Now we are into cops and robbers now that their god has been caught with his fingers in the till.

    Morons.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank GOD for the media and ODM, especially Raila. All this theft would have been going on without our knowledge. It has been going on, only this time, Odm/Raila is around and chonjo and the whistle is blown everytime they dip their filthy hands in the till for additional helpings. You wonder how sme people live such lavish lives in kenya!!!
    How i hate these thieves.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Chris,

    I take offense when you imply that folks from El Wak, my home town, cannot match the wits of Eastlanders.

    All the same, it’s very likely that the gangsters were let loose by their compatriots i.e. the policemen at the scene. What I worry about now is the safety of the woman who raised the alarm. StanChart management should transfer her to the El Wak branch immediately.

    That said, the unintelligence of the police force is a reflection of the government it serves. These folks have no aspirations to acquire professional skills. For them, things are good as they are. They have the power to extort and to jail; in Kenya today, what else do you need?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Its no surprise really that none of these thugs so called leaders is getting an official invite to attend Obama's inauguration even after screaming themselves hoarse about that victory by their 'cousin' and even declaring a ridiculous holiday in the middle of a week when Americans didnt see the need for one.For surely with everything going his way,why would he want to soil his reputation by being seen to associate with our bunch of thieving,murderous,soulless politicians.Poor molasses,even after going out of his way to travel to the US,he will be content to watch the event on TV just like me back home only difference being I will have spent nothing while he's out there blowing up taxpayers money.And some people still want to believe their god isnt corrupt!

    ReplyDelete
  13. ...Sincerely...How can you match the wits of an Eastlands hardened criminal who has grown up in Nairobi all his life with a policeman who was recruited from El Wak
    Now, that is funny and SO TRUE!

    ReplyDelete

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