An 18-year-old woman has been arrested after detectives allegedly found a pair of pliers and a shear hidden beneath a plate of rice and meat she had taken to three suspects detained at Ruai Police Station.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said on Wednesday that Christine Njoki Gitau arrived at the station carrying the meal, claiming it was meant for three friends being held at the facility.
The three suspects, identified as Emmanuel Bosire, Ismael Arisa and Brian Gatheru, are in custody over allegations of robbery with violence and gang rape.
According to the DCI, the trio was allegedly running an anonymous TikTok page that they used to lure young women into meetings before allegedly attacking them and taking their valuables.
Gitau reportedly asked to meet the three suspects and told officers that the food she had brought was for them.
Before the meal was handed over, however, officers searched its contents and allegedly discovered the tools concealed underneath the rice and meat.
“A routine scoop through the food led to a shocking discovery: buried beneath the meal lay a pair of pliers and a shear, cold-steel tools meant to aid the escape of the three suspects.”
The discovery prompted officers to arrest Gitau as detectives began looking into whether she was acting alone or whether more people were linked to the alleged plan.
The DCI said the suspected escape plan was stopped before the tools could reach the three suspects.
“In an instant, a jailbreak-in-waiting was crushed before it could hatch. Christine was placed under immediate arrest, her plate of deception now the centrepiece of a widening investigation into who else may have had a hand in the plot.”
Kenyan law provides for criminal charges against people who assist or try to assist a person in lawful custody to escape. Section 124 of the Penal Code states that anyone who aids a prisoner to escape or attempts to do so, or conveys anything into a prison with the intention of helping an escape, commits a felony punishable by up to seven years in prison.
The law therefore covers both those who directly help a prisoner escape and people who knowingly take items into a prison or custodial facility for the purpose of making an escape possible.
The case comes as authorities continue to focus on the security and safe custody of people held within Kenya's justice system.
The Kenya Prisons Service lists the safe custody of people lawfully committed to prison facilities among its main responsibilities, alongside the rehabilitation and reintegration of sentenced offenders.
The service currently oversees 140 penal institutions, comprising 134 facilities for adults and three institutions for youthful offenders.
Security and overcrowding have remained among the concerns affecting Kenya's correctional system. In 2024, the Kenya Prisons Service said inmates at Machakos Main and Women's Prison had raised concerns over congestion as well as delays in the handling of court cases.
Authorities have also pursued measures aimed at reducing the number of people kept in custody. In September 2024, the Kenya Prisons Service said an Alternative Justice Systems prison model had helped resolve 60 cases within nine months in Isiolo.
During the same period, 37 inmates were released through a sentence-review process.
The importance of security in custodial facilities was also highlighted in January 2026 when Commissioner General of Prisons Patrick Aranduh told senior prison officers that the service's core responsibility was to ensure the safe containment of inmates and protect the community.
Aranduh also said security lapses and negligence would not be tolerated.
In the Ruai incident, detectives are continuing with investigations to establish whether Gitau was acting on her own or whether other people were involved in the alleged attempt to facilitate an escape.
The DCI has not given further details on the intended use of the tools beyond identifying them as a pair of pliers and a shear. It also did not explain how the three suspects allegedly planned to use the items.
Bosire, Arisa and Gatheru remain in custody over the allegations linked to the anonymous TikTok account.
The DCI has urged members of the public with information about criminal activity to report it through its anonymous reporting channels.
The agency provided the toll-free number 0800 722 203 and WhatsApp number 0709 570 000 for members of the public to submit reports.
It warned that anyone found helping or attempting to help a person escape from lawful custody would face legal action.
“The DCI reminds members of the public that aiding or attempting to aid an escape from lawful custody is a serious criminal offence and those found committing such acts will be met with the full force of the law.”