DCI recovers UK-stolen Land Rover in nationwide vehicle crackdown

The story in context

Kenyan detectives seized a grey Land Rover Discovery from a vehicle yard on Nairobi’s Northern Bypass after checks showed it had been reported stolen in the United Kingdom, Capital FM reported on October 18, 2026. Citing the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the publisher said the vehicle was taken to the agency’s headquarters for processing and further investigation.

The recovery formed part of Operation Carback II, a week-long campaign against vehicle theft that ended on Friday. According to the DCI account carried by Capital FM, officers physically examined more than 1,800 vehicles and screened over 260,000 against INTERPOL records. Inspections covered seven regions, including Nairobi, Coast and Rift Valley, with teams visiting dealerships, garages, spare-parts businesses and highway checkpoints.

Investigators also flagged two suspected registration discrepancies. In Thika West, a white Mercedes-Benz Kompressor had registration details linked to an orange Suzuki station wagon. In Embakasi, records associated a recovered forklift with a crawler, while its chassis number had been obliterated. Both matters were referred for further investigation; the reported findings did not establish who was responsible.

The DCI’s INTERPOL bureau in Nairobi and Operations Directorate led the Kenyan effort, supported by transport, revenue, standards, prosecution and police agencies. Capital FM reported that the campaign followed a similar exercise in 2024 and was part of Project Drive Out, an international initiative involving INTERPOL member countries and Europol. The DCI said cooperation and intelligence exchanges with overseas partners were central to tracing stolen vehicles and tackling cross-border theft networks.