Thieves in Nairobi have become more inventive – and bold to the extent they are now engaging in what residents are referring to as ‘door to door service’
Many who spoke to Mwanahabari.co.ke said that they have lost TVs, laptops, mobile phones, Wi-fi routers and other valuables to thugs who sneak into houses when people are asleep in other rooms – or leave for the shop.
“I recently saw a young man walk out of an apartment with a 43-inch Television. I actually opened the gate as he walked out of the apartment. I thought he was one of our many neighbours probably going to repair his TV. It was only later that I learned that he had stolen it from a house on the fourth floor. Apparently the owner was sleeping in one of the bedrooms. She had not locked the man door,” Henry Kamau who is a resident of Komarock told Mwanahabari.co.ke.
“These thieves walk into secure estates and move from door to door – knocking and asking for fictitious names, people who don’t exist. If they knock and no one replies, they will proceed to try and unlock the doors which are often locked from inside,” said Anne who leaves in Donholm.
Adding: “The other day a man walked to my door, knocked and found the house help and the kids. He asked for Sharon. The house help told him to check in the other houses. The man proceeded to another house where he found kids alone.
“He asked the kid to help him with drinking water – and when the kid went to fetch the water – he came back and found him going through stuff.
“Luckily there was an adult sleeping in one of the bedrooms.”
Landlords in Eastlands have asked tenants to be very careful when welcoming strangers at home.
They have also asked tenants to not just lock their doors from inside using the little loop that is very easy to open from outside whenever they are going to be away for lengthy periods of time.
This comes just days after a young man was beaten to a pulp in Nairobi Komarock on Tuesday, August 17, area after he was found picking a laptop and a phone from the house.
The owner of the house told Mwanahabari.co.ke that he had left the house to run to the shop only to come back and find someone inside his house – picking stuff.
“It was slightly dark – and I could not see clearly – but then I saw someone moving in the house. I asked who he was and that’s when he attacked me with a knife,” said the owner of the house who did not wish to be named.
The owner of the house suffered a stab wound just above his ear – and had to seek medical attention.
The young man was rescued by police officers from Kayole police station after he was beaten by a mob in Kimarock.
Mwanahabari has learned that it’s not the first time residents have found strangers going through their stuff in the houses.