Three mobile phone repair technicians who were found flashing and reprogramming stolen phones were Thursday, September 14 charged in court with several counts including violent robbery.
They were also charged with tampering with communication equipment in a move seen as part of efforts to contain stealing and robberies of mobile phones.
Lagat Kamonde, Victor Ali and Dismus Ongaye were arrested while flashing the phones to alter their International Mobile Equipment Identification (IMEI) numbers.
During the arrest on September 6, the suspects were found with over 30 mobile phones in Kware, Embakasi within Nairobi County, police said.
One of the phones valued at Sh32,000 was robbed of Fredrick Achieng Omalla in Tigoni, Kiambu County on August 27, according to the detectives.
During the incident, he was also robbed of Sh15,000 by the men who were armed with crude weapons.
The three suspects were accused of colluding with others at large to carry out the robberies jointly with others at large which they denied before Senior Principal Magistrate Agnes Mwangi of the Makadara Law Courts.
They also faced charges of handling stolen property, and also stealing a mobile phone worth Sh16,000 from Peter Mulwa who was reportedly mugged along Luthuli Avenue in Nairobi City Centre on August 26.
The three were also charged with tampering with telecommunication plant contrary to section 32 (b) of the Kenya Information and Communication Act of 2020.
The court was told that undercover police officers from Makadara Sub County were on patrol when they received information about a shop in Kware within Embakasi where stolen phones were being flashed.
They raided the shop and recovered the phones, three laptops, CPUs and monitors. Also recovered was a gadget used to flash and reprogramme stolen phones to alter unique identification details including details of their owners.
Police believe the suspects are in a syndicate involved in smuggling stolen phones to neighbouring countries after they are stolen from Kenyans in violent robberies.
They were released on a bond of Sh250,000 each in the robbery case and cash bail of varied amounts for the other charges.
Police are now appealing to members of the public who have lost their mobile phones in robberies, muggings and pickpocketing to report at the Industrial Area police station to identify them so that more charges can be preferred against the suspects.
Major operations are ongoing targeting the shops handling the stolen property. In some incidents, the victims were killed. Police are investigating them.
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