Elite Squad Officer Arrested over Sh14 Million Barclays Bank ATMs Heist

A police officer attached to an elite unit has been arrested in connection with last week's robbery of Sh14 million from four Barclays Bank ATMs in Nairobi.

George Gachungu Njoroge, an officer attached to the Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) in Isiolo, was arrested by detectives from the Economic Crimes Unit for the offense of conspiracy to commit a felony.

Detectives believe Gachungu has information that will assist in the investigations into the heist.

“In diverse dates between April 15 and 20, he conspired with others to commit the said offense at Barclays ATM point based at Kenya Cinema occasioning to a financial loss to Barclays Bank of Kenya,” a police report filed at Kamukunji police station reads.

Police also arrested a taxi driver and impounded a Toyota Probox car suspected to have been used during the robbery.

Detectives from the cybercrime unit suspect the robbers jack-potted the machines to spit money.

Jack-potting is a technique used by hackers to electronically interfere with an ATM machine and command it to release all its content.

The technique involves hackers coding an ATM machine using a computer or mobile phone and instruct it to release cash.

CCTV footage from one of the affected ATMs shows a masked middle-aged man carrying a backpack making his way into a Toyota Probox vehicle with two other suspects onboard.