Two suspects believed to be behind the recent armed attacks on civilians in Kakamega, Vihiga and Uasin Gishu counties were Monday arrested in a police operation.

Detectives from the elite Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau, arrested the suspects in Kakamega. This was after a chase that ended at river Lwatingu where the main suspect was arrested before he jumped into the river, to evade justice.

Police said the two, believed to have masterminded several armed robberies in Kakamega, had on April 9 attacked a senior DCI officer and cut his head several times, leaving him unconscious.

The officer based at DCI Kakamega North, had just arrived at his residence at around 3am from an assignment in Nairobi, when the thugs who were on a motorbike accosted him at his gate.

They descended on him with a panga inflicting deep cuts on his head before fleeing into darkness with his Jericho pistol that was loaded with 15 bullets.

Armed with the stolen firearm, the thugs abandoned the panga and went on a robbery spree, targeting M-Pesa shops and fuelling stations.

According to police, on April 11, at around 9.30pm, the duo staged an attack at Aziz petrol station in Shibuli shopping centre, and left with an unknown amount of money.

Two days later, the suspects attacked a gold dealer in Lwanugu village and took off with Sh55,000, eight grams of gold, mobile phones and other valuables.

This was after they ordered everyone at the gold mining site to lie down and not raise an alarm.

Nobody was injured.

In yet another incident on April 20, according to police, at around 10pm, the thugs raided an M-Pesa shop at Mudete market in Maragoli, and took off with money and mobile phones.

On sensing that detectives had launched a manhunt for them in Western Kenya, the suspects who had escaped several police dragnets fled to Uasin Gishu county, where they continued with their activities targeting shops and other businesses.

In one of the attacks, two civilians suffered gunshot injuries to their hands and legs, as the thugs raided a shop at Elgon View estate in Eldoret and made away with cash.

Following the arrest of one of the main suspects, he led our officers to a toilet at his homestead in Lower Tingu, Mugulu, where the firearm loaded with two rounds of 9mm calibre was recovered hidden in a pit latrine.

The detectives also impounded a motorbike believed to have been the gang’s getaway means.

Police said they are looking for more suspects over the spate of attacks in the towns.