Four arrested over Mombasa robbery as police link them to other cases

Four men arrested over the robbery of an American citizen in Mombasa have been linked to a similar incident in Kiambaa, Kiambu County.

Police said investigations show the men are also wanted in Kiambaa for offences of robbery with violence reported earlier this year.

They are alleged to have attacked an Austrian and a Cypriot. Police further said the suspects have been forensically linked to another robbery with violence incident in Watamu, Malindi Sub-County, and will be moved there for further processing.

Police have also linked the suspects to the 2025 murder of a British national, Campbell Scott.

The four appeared in court on Monday, where a magistrate allowed police to detain them for 14 days pending investigations.

They appeared on a miscellaneous application seeking custodial orders to complete investigations into the alleged robbery with violence.

The Shanzu Law Court directed that the case be mentioned on April 27, 2026.

Police said the suspects were later positively identified by the complainant during an identification parade at a local police station.

The suspects were arrested at an apartment in Ukunda, Kwale County, following the April 9 robbery in Nyali, Mombasa.

According to police, the American had met a friend at a restaurant before returning to his room to rest due to noise from a neighbouring room at a short-stay facility in Bamburi.

It was at the friend’s house that four men allegedly stormed in and robbed him of a mobile phone, Sh14,000, USD1,400, 400 Euros, a laptop charger, and withdrew USD1,600 using his card before escaping.

A search at the residence led to the recovery of items believed to be stolen, including an HP laptop, mobile phones, assorted foreign currencies, multiple credit cards, cheque books from various banks and PDQ machines.

Police said crime scene investigators processed the scene, and the suspects, together with the recovered items, are being held at Nyali Police Station pending further investigations.

They are also expected to be taken to Nairobi to face murder charges, police said. Police said the operation was conducted by Directorate of Criminal Investigations officers on Saturday.

The suspects were being sought in connection with the murder of a Briton reported in February 2025. Scott, from Dunfermline in Fife, was a senior director at the credit scoring firm and had travelled to Nairobi for a conference before his disappearance. He went missing after failing to meet colleagues for a presentation.

Police said Scott had visited a nightclub the previous evening and was later taken to a property in the Pipeline area. His body was later found in a pineapple sack with his hands bound.

A post-mortem examination was described as inconclusive, with pathologists indicating that injuries on his body were too minor to have caused his death. Police had earlier arrested two men, a taxi driver and a nightclub waiter, believed to be among the last people to see him alive.

Two other men were also arrested in Mombasa in connection with the case, before police issued an appeal for three more suspects.