Police on Thursday, November 8, arrested a key suspect in the case of Mombasa blogger Bruce John Khajira aka Chawa.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in a Facebook post confirmed the arrest, noting that the suspect was arrested while trying to flee to the neighboring Tanzania
“One of the prime suspects in the September 12 abduction and subsequent sexual harassment of blogger Bruce John Khajira aka Chawa- 001 has been arrested at the Lunga Lunga border while trying to flee to Tanzania,” the statement read in part.
The DCI revealed that the suspect’s arrest was a joint effort between the detectives and the Immigration Department. They claim Immigration Department provided crucial intelligence as they were aware of the suspect’s plans to flee the country.
Mombasa Blogger Bruce John while in hospital after sexual assault.
Photo
“The suspect’s arrest was a culmination of days and nights of vigilance by duty-bound detectives working jointly with the Immigration Department, who were privy to the plans by the masterminds to sneak out of the country with all those implicated in the perversion,” noted the police.
According to the police, their investigation revealed that the suspect was placed at both the primary and secondary scenes of the crime. This was in addition to being in constant communication with the perpetrators of the crime.
“In a painstaking investigation conducted by a select team of DCI Hqs detectives, the suspect was forensically placed at both the primary and secondary scenes of the incident, besides being in constant communication with other known perpetrators before, during, and after the incident,” the police stated.
Aside from the prime suspect’s arrest, police revealed that they also managed to recover the car used by the suspects to transport Bruce John to and from the scene of the crime.
“Notably, detectives at the Digital Forensics Lab identified the motor vehicle that is grey in colour, in which the victim was bundled from his house to the scene,” the police revealed.
Furthermore, the police disclosed that the prime suspect arrested was the one who hired the car. “The vehicle had been hired by the prime suspect on August 20, this year and returned on September 12, in the evening after the fiendish gang completed their hellish mission. The car has since been intercepted and detained,” they revealed.
The DCI stated that their investigations placed the car at the prime scene of the crime- a construction site- where Bruce John was sexually assaulted. The detectives revealed that the car was at the scene for about two hours.
“Crime researchers were able to forensically place the said car at the primary scene (where the victim was sexually assaulted) at a County Government of Mombasa construction site within Bonje Area for about two hours, before revving to Mwakirunge area where the victim was dumped,” they stated.
DCI revealed that with the prime suspect now in custody, they were working on arresting the accomplices of the crime who they said were in different parts of the country. “With the suspect now in custody and undergoing interrogation, it is just a matter of time before anyone else involved is brought before the firm grip of the law. Several accomplices have since been identified and are holing up in various parts of the country, and the DCI calls upon them to surrender at any police station or DCI offices,” they reiterated.
A collage of Mombasa Governor Abdullswamad Sherrif Nassir and blogger Bruce John alias Chawa.
