Police probing brazen night robbery at Chaiiwali café

The incident, captured on CCTV cameras, has raised concerns over insecurity incidents in the area. 

This comes barely a month after five robbers attacked another restaurant in the area and stole two phones among other valuables. 

The CCTV footage, captured at Chaiiwali cafe along General Mathenge Road on Saturday night, shows the moment when armed robbers wearing facemasks struck and terrorized customers before leaving with valuables.

In the CCTV footage, the robbers arrive at 10:34 PM using two motorbikes. Customers chatting the night away panic, and some run away the moment one of the robbers cocks his pistol and goes for the table on the right where six customers are seated. Another robber armed with a pistol goes for the table on the left side.

They then move from one table to the other stealing phones and a laptop. On their way out, the robber in a white jacket is seen shooting inside the restaurant. A security guard is captured trying to stop one of the robbers, who shoots at the ground to scare him. The two then get onto the waiting motorbikes and leave in a huff. In less than 40 seconds, six iPhones, one Samsung phone, and a laptop were stolen.

"I think they targeted the personal effects of our clients because they just came, threatened people, and when our customers ran in, they started picking their phones and laptop and ran away with them,” says Bedar Ichami, Manager AT Chaiiwali Café.

Reports indicate the robbers were on a scouting mission when they passed the cafe, before they turned back and struck. 

The management says the brazen attack is one of a kind in the area. 

However, what has been of concern over the last few months have been incidents of phone snatching.

"We have several clients who have lost their phones. A client walks out speaking to somebody or ordering an Uber, gets his phone snatched, and also people around here... you can’t go around talking on the phone freely,” Ichami further details.

Residents have expressed their growing fears over the rising insecurity and the misuse of motorbikes in the upscale neighborhood.

"It’s now not very easy to discern who is a genuine boda boda rider and who is a genuine Uber operator, and this presents a crazy scare for the residents. We don’t expect such incidents here due to the vicinity of this place, Westlands,” says Noah Ndakala a resident of General Mathenge.

"What is the authority doing about this? I see normal bodas breaking all the laws; they will come from the opposite side and a traffic police officer is there and doing nothing about it,” says another resident, Mehul Malde.

Sources say police who responded first tracked one of the stolen phones, which was still active in the Baba Dogo area before being switched off. 

Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers from Gigiri Police Station, who on Saturday night collected one used cartridge outside the cafe, returned to the scene on Sunday and grilled the cafe owners and workers who were on duty.

Gigiri Police Commander Robert Kinyua has confirmed that his officers are in hot pursuit of the robbers, whom he believes are part of a racket terrorizing residents.

The attack comes barely a month after another incident at Nazir Pan House restaurant in Westlands, where five men riding on two motorbikes stole two phones valued at 165,000 shillings and other valuables. 

The same group is suspected to have robbed a foreigner of an iPhone 17 Pro along School Lane Road in Westlands. Both cases are still under investigation.