Mavoko Law Courts. Four people have been arrested for allegedly vandalising Kenya Power cables. [Photo/citizentv.co.ke]
A police officer attached to Kitengela Police station was arraigned in Mavoko Law Courts on Friday for allegedly vandalising a high transmission (HT) cable at Athi River.
David Mumo, armed with an AK47 rifle, was arrested on Thursday together with three other suspects; Henry Mugambi, George Ouma, and Benjamin Sila, who are employees of security firm Securex and working in the alarm response team.
They were booked at Athi River Police Station.
The four suspects pleaded not guilty and were released on a bond of KShs.800,000 and surety of the same amount with an alternative cash bail of Sh200,000 pending mention of their case scheduled for 19th March 2018.
The arrest was carried out by DCI officers who laid an ambush next to EPZ substation. 300 meters of copper cable, spades, forks and nylon bags were recovered in the operation.
Elsewhere, in an operation carried out in Trans Nzoia yesterday, two suspects; Nixon Sabora and Samson Simiyu were nabbed at Zinoko area while constructing an illegal line. The security team involved recovered 1,150 meters of conductor wires, one pair of pole climbers, one safety belt and 7 destroyed wooden poles.
The incident was booked at Moi’s Bridge Police Station and the suspects will be charged in court today.
In similar operations conducted in Machakos and Nanyuki areas, 6 prepaid meters, 1,700 meters of aluminum conductors and three wooden poles were recovered.
Kenya Power has sustained countrywide operations and heightened surveillance of the network to weed out vandalism, illegal connections and other vices undermining the quality of power supply to customers.
As a result, the Company recorded a 40 percent reduction in the number of vandalized transformers in the year the last financial year, from 222 in the previous year to 133.