After days on the run and hiding in a mabati house in Kihara, Gachie, quack doctor Mugo wa Wairimu made one blunder that led to his arrest, a local daily reported today.
At around 7 pm on Tuesday, Mugo called for an Uber taxi from his hideout and boarded the car and headed for the city.
Police said he wanted to buy a Tshirt from a stall. Mugo was arrested outside Utalii House.
Investigations show that Mugo had sought refuge at the house of a 40yearold fruit vendor in Gachie. The woman has been identified as Lilian Kangai, who, the police said, had taken off after Mugo’s arrest.
The relationship between Kangai and Mugo remains unclear, but investigators hope to establish it once they arrest and question her.
Police said Mugo would only leave the woman’s oneroom house to visit her outhouse.
Not even neighbours recognized the man on the run. The Local daily reported
Mugo will be detained for 10 days at Pangani police station, as investigations continue. The officers yesterday requested to hold him for two weeks, but senior resident magistrate Ben Nzakyon gave them 10 days.
They said Mugo is being investigated for illegal medical practice and obtaining money by false pretences. The officers said he carried out an operation on November 3 at Millan Health International in Kayole, Nairobi.
Mugo went into hiding on November 7 after officials from the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board raided the Kayole clinic, where he was alleged to have been procuring abortions. The clinic had no licenses.
NTV had aired an expose on the clinic.
Soon after he disappeared, senior DCI commanders piled pressure on Flying Squad chiefs Musa Yego and John Njoroge to have him arrested. Yego turned the heat on his officers.
He deployed them in various houses in the city where police suspected Mugo had been hiding.
They also laid an ambush five times at Mugo’s rural home in Mutuini, Dagoretti, but they failed to capture him.
Mugo’s known mobile phone numbers had been switched off as soon as he learnt that detectives were on his trail. He bought a new line, which he used to communicate with a man suspected to be his relative.
On Tuesday noon, he switched on his phone and sent a text message to one of his contacts, requesting for a meeting either at Utawala or Ruai later in the day.
He told the contact that they should not meet in hotels, as public places would blow their cover. They agreed to meet in a car.
The contact sent Sh500 airtime to Mugo’s number and another Sh1,000 via MPesa, detectives familiar with the case said yesterday.
Unknown to him, Criminal Intelligence Unit officers had been monitoring the conversations.
Yesterday, police had yet to establish the relationship between Mugo and the man. Sources said he was being sought for questioning.
Three years ago, Mugo was arrested and charged with raping a patient while operating another illegal clinic in Githurai 44 estate.
