Machakos: Two nabbed in suspected motorcycle theft syndicate

The duo includes a motorbike mechanic who operates in Matuu within Yatta Subcounty.

Yatta Subcounty Criminal Investigations Officer Samuel Onyango said a motorcycle that had allegedly been stolen was also recovered in the Thursday operations.

“There have been many cases of motorbike theft in this area. We got information about a motorbike that had been reported to have been stolen on April 28, 2025, in the Kwa Makaa area, leading to the recovery operations,” Onyango said.

Onyango said they tracked the first suspect, a motorcycle mechanic, to Kivingoni area in the outskirts of Matuu Township, where he was arrested.

“The intelligence information that we had led us to Kivingoni area in Matuu where we arrested a mechanic suspected to have been disabling trackers on motorbikes,” he said.

The detective said the suspect, after his arrest, led them to Ithanga in Murang’a county, where another suspect was arrested and the motorbike alleged to have been stolen on April 28 recovered.

The suspects have been locked up at Matuu police station awaiting to be arraigned at Kithimani Law courts.

Onyango said they were profiling suspected criminals in Yatta to establish their mode of operation so as to nab them.

“We are up in arms to fight crime in Yatta Subcounty, let criminals either shape up or ship out,” Onyango said.

Cases of motorcycle theft in Machakos county have been soaring lately, with bodaboda operators pointing fingers at some of those who sell them the motorbikes.

The operators across the county, alongside their counterparts from the neighboring Makueni county claim that most of the motorcycles that get lost are those whose owners had either completed servicing their loans or were just about to.

“They wonder why the trackers on motorbikes bought on loans from some of the companies around are always active before those who purchase them on hire purchase complete servicing their loans, but once they complete the payments, the trackers become inactive,” John Munyau said.

Some bodaboda operators have taken to the streets several times to demonstrate against increased cases of motorcycle theft and at times loss of their colleagues to gangs who violently rob them of their property.