An M-Pesa transaction allegedly linked to a former MCA aspirant helped police trace two missing Form Three students from Mombasa to Nairobi, where they were rescued after more than two weeks.
Police arrested the politician cum human rights activist in connection with the disappearance of the two students from the Kiembeni area of Kisauni Constituency.
The students went missing on the night of August 24 after their parents sent them to a nearby shop to buy milk.
Mombasa County Commissioner Mohammed Noor said investigators followed a financial transaction allegedly connected to one of the suspects, which helped them establish the whereabouts of the students.
Noor said the suspect allegedly sent money to a mobile number being used by one of the students.
Although the number was registered in the name of the student’s mother, investigators were able to use the transaction to follow the trail.
“Through this method of tracing them, they were able to obtain a financial transaction involving the suspect, which showed that he had sent money to the girl’s number. The girl was using the phone, but the number was registered in her mother’s name,” Noor said.
He said investigators followed the trail until they located the students in Nairobi, leading to their rescue and the arrest of the suspects.
“That is where they followed the trail from and were able to trace them all the way to Nairobi, where they were arrested,” he added.
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Former MCA Aspirant Arrested
Noor identified the suspect as a former MCA aspirant in the Kisauni area and said that he used his personal assistant to lure the two students.
“He was a former aspirant in the Kisauni area for the MCA position, and he used his personal assistant to lure these children,” Noor said.
According to the Commissioner, the students were taken from Mombasa to Nairobi, where they remained for more than two weeks before police located them.
Police are continuing to investigate the circumstances under which the students were taken to Nairobi.
Authorities are also investigating whether the human rights activist arrested in the case could be linked to child trafficking.
Noor said the suspects are expected to face charges including defilement and kidnapping, subject to investigations and the applicable legal process.
M-PESA trail leads police to missing girls.
The girls’ parents reported them missing at Kiembeni Police Station on August 26 after they failed to return from a nearby shop where they had gone to buy milk and bread.
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The suspect was arrested at his home in Kiembeni and questioned.
Police said he told investigators that he had received the girls’ number from a former campaign associate identified before sending them money.
On September 3, DCI detectives traveled to Nairobi to follow up on leads and found the girls at a friend’s residence.
The girls told police they had been abducted in Kiembeni on August 25 and taken to Kiambu County, where they were confined in an empty room.
They were released on August 29 and given Sh10,000. After the money ran out, they sought shelter at a friend’s home.
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