Does This Video Show a Person Being Kidnapped in Nairobi?

By Naomi Wanjiku

A tweet claims to show a video of a person being kidnapped in Nairobi, Kenya.

The author of the tweet uses the video to warn online users intending to travel to Nairobi about insecurity in the city.

“Think twice before you travel to Nairobi. A seriously concerns has been raised by the growing number of kidnappings and killings in Nairobi (sic),” the tweet cautions.

Verification

A reverse image search of the video using keyframes shows that the kidnapping did not happen in Nairobi but in East London, in the United Kingdom.

An article published in the Daily Mirror reports police were called on Sunday, 11 April, 2021, after a man was kidnapped on Queen Mary Avenue, E18 in London.

“Witnesses saw two men get out of a grey Ford Transit van and drag a man into the back of the vehicle after punching him several times. A third suspect was also inside the van. The van then drove off, closely followed by a black BMW,” a statement from Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the London Metropolitan Police, notes.

The Scotland Yard statement further notes that the BMW driver had been speaking to the kidnap victim moments before the van arrived.

The publication states that the van was located in Chigwell, East London and two male suspects were arrested. The kidnap victim, who had non-life-threatening injuries, was rescued and taken to hospital.

In the recent past, insecurity cases have been on the rise in Nairobi, especially the Central Business District. Case in point is the recent arrest made by detectives from the office of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). On June 23, 2021, the investigative body announced that it had arrested six suspects linked to a series of robberies along Nairobi’s Southern By-Pass. The detectives recovered over 100 mobile phones, all suspected to be stolen.

“During the operation mounted by Langata based crime busters, they managed to arrest Messi Martha Mutioka, Tevin Njuguna, Edward Baraza Shikoba, Lawrence Gitahi Ndirangu, Kenneth Maina Chege, and David Lugali Asianja all aged between 21–32 years,” the DCI said in a tweet on Wednesday.

The six are among the 15 suspects that have been arrested as a result of the rampant robberies in Nairobi.

Early this week, a motorist succumbed while receiving treatment in hospital. The motorist was attacked by a group of three criminals who sprayed his car with bullets in Juja, Kiambu County. Murders, kidnappings, and muggings have been on the rise in Nairobi and in Kenya in general, which has caused many to raise the matter with the Inspector-General of Police Hillary Mutyambai.

“Deploy security officers in the CBD Sir, it’s getting out of hand,” Joan Ngengi wrote to the police boss in his fortnight Twitter sessions dubbed #EngageTheIG.

Mutyambai in response to the tweep wrote, “I have taken note of insecurity within CBD. Action will be taken and security enhanced.”

In a statement on Monday, the Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti urged Kenyans, especially those in the CBD, to report any criminal cases at the DCI offices in addition to sharing the incidents on social media.

“The DCI urges members of the public who may fall or have fallen victims of mugging within the Nairobi Central Business District (CBD) to make formal reports at the Nairobi Central DCI offices whenever such unfortunate incidents happen,” the DCI wrote on their page.

Verdict

PesaCheck has looked into a tweet claiming to show a video of a person being kidnapped and driven away in a van in Nairobi, Kenya, and finds it to be FALSE.