Three Kenya Power officials were on Wednesday arrested after 36 shells of electricity transformers were found buried in an abandoned farm in Redhill, Kiambu county.
They were nabbed by Flying Squad officers attached to the Karuri police station after a tip-off from the public. Kiambu police boss Wilberforce Scharani said they started investigating the three Kenya Power officials after a watchman who guards the farm mentioned their names. He said residents had told police they usually see lorries entering the abandoned farm with transformers.
The watchman was arrested on Friday last week and questioned. After the questioning, police arrested the three KP officers. They also found electricity wires hidden in the house.
It is, however, not clear who pays the watchman.Head of Flying Squad Aden Bagaja yesterday told the Star the three were later released on Sh20,000 bail as police continued with investigations.
Scharani said they are investigating to establish who owns the 26-acre farm. The unidentified owner is said to have bought the farm from a white settler in 1977, but has never lived there. “We heard the owner lives in Nakuru and he barely comes here,” he said.
The farm has a one- storey house. “No one knows the owner. We only know that he is rich, but he is aging,” neighbour Mwangi wa Mwaura said.
Kenya Power security manager Geoffrey Kigen said the transformers had been dismantled and the oil siphoned out and copper cables stolen. He said the biggest is a 50KVA transformer with 50 litres of oil and the smallest holds 300 litres. Kigen said the smallest costs Sh300,000 and the largest Sh500,000.
“As of now, we cannot say the exact cost of these transformer shells,” Kigen said. “We are told some hotels use the oil to cook French fries. It’s bad and unhygienic to use transformer oil to cook food.”