It was the end of the road for five suspected gangsters as they were shot dead on Tuesday night at a matatu stage located outside the GSU headquarters in Nairobi, along the Thika Superhighway.
The suspects were cornered at the GSU stage where they attempted to rob an unsuspecting woman.
Armed officers who were on patrol gunned them down and secured the handbag that had been stolen from the targeted victim of the botched robbery.
Head of Special Crimes Prevention Unit, Pius Gitari, revealed that his the security officers were also able to recover one Browning pistol from the felled gangsters.
“We will establish whose weapon it is and if it has been used in any crime,” he told The Standard.
An image of a section of the Thika Road Superhighway.
Reports indicated that the gang on motorbikes had trailed their victim from her M-Pesa shop located near the Drive Inn area.
The unidentified lady had closed up her shop and was walking to catch a bus at the GSU stage when the gang pounced.
Police officers on patrol within the area are said to have spotted the ensuing fracas, and rushed to the scene and engaged the thugs.
“They had snatched the handbag from a woman and as they tried to flee from the scene, police officers cornered and shot them dead,” said Pius Kamau, who spoke to the Nation.
Image from the Thika Road crime scene where thugs hurled a grenade at police officers
This incident comes barely two weeks since five other suspects were arrested after hurling a grenade at officers who were chasing them following a robbery at an M-Pesa shop in Nairobi’s Huruma estate.
During that encounter, the police had trailed the gang riding on three motorbikes up to the Thika Superhighway, when they threw a grenade at the officers, which luckily never exploded.