Nairobi Residents Complain Over Increase in thefts Carried out at Dawn

Many individuals are silently counting their losses as a new wave of thefts targets inhabitants of Pipeline, Komarock, Kayole, and Umoja in Nairobi’s Eastlands.

According to reports, the burglars primarily target people who live alone and must leave their homes at the crack of dawn to use the public restrooms before heading to work.

Wananchi Reporting has discovered that thieves frequently wait till the home’s owner enters the shower before breaking in and robbing.

David Makonge, a resident of Pipeline estate who recently lost his wallet and phone, said, “They will wait until you use the restroom, then enter your house and remove any items they can get their hands on.”

“I remember rushing to the bathroom just a few meters from my house as I was getting late for work. I must have taken some 10 minutes in the bathroom, but when I returned to the house, I realized that some of my things were missing,” said Makonge.

Makonge claimed that he had left the door unlocked, and he vows never to make the same error again.

The same thing happened to Timothy Karanja, a resident of the Kayole estate, who misplaced a phone and a music sub-woofer in the public restroom.

Just a few minutes after entering the bathroom, Karanja said to Wananchi Reporting, “It occurred so quickly; my property was gone.”

Karanja continued, “I have a feeling that they had observed my motions and were simply waiting for a chance to pounce, and they did it so brilliantly.

The thieves often target people who live on the ground level of a property and have toilets that are somewhat exposed and face the street. As a result, they can pick up anything through the window and go.

In Nyama Villa estate in Nairobi, a secondary school student had her mobile phone grabbed through the window as she enjoyed a shower while ready to go to school.

“The girl had set the phone against the window’s edge, and it was playing music. A caretaker at Nyama Villa told Wananchi Reporting that the woman heard the music stop abruptly and looked through the suds to see a hand holding a phone that was retreating.

The house is on the ground floor, and there are no grills on the windows, so the man must have taken the phone from outside, he continued.

The girl screamed, but because she was in the shower, there wasn’t much she could do.

Since then, the janitor has advised the landlord to put metal grills on all of the ground-floor apartments’ windows.

To prevent losing possessions, people have been urged to lock their doors whenever they leave the house.