Standard Group Associate Editor Alex Kiprotich has been found safe and is receiving care after he was allegedly abducted along the Gilgil-Nakuru road on Tuesday night.
Kiprotich was reportedly dumped near Masinga Dam at about 2am on Wednesday, about nine hours after he went missing. He sought help from a nearby family before a Standard Group team found him at about 6:30am.
The media house said Kiprotich was safe but visibly shaken after the ordeal.
He went missing shortly before 9:20pm after making a brief call to Standard Group Head of Security Tom Kipyegon.
“Tom, we have been hijacked! We have been hijacked at Gilgil!” he reportedly shouted before the call ended.
Kiprotich later told colleagues that four masked men armed with AK-47 rifles took him in a Subaru bearing registration number KDC 125E. Standard Group said its checks showed the vehicle was a government vehicle fitted with a siren.
He said the men appeared to be police officers and were allowed through roadblocks after speaking to other officers.
During the journey, his captors questioned him about how Standard Group gets its stories, how headlines are decided and whether shareholder Gideon Moi receives visitors at Kabarak.
Kiprotich also said some of the men told him not to worry, saying, “ni mambo ya serikali.”
The account was given by Kiprotich and relayed by Standard Group. It has not been independently verified. There was no immediate official response from police or the government.
The incident is the second reported attempt to target Kiprotich in just over two months.
On June 27, armed men in a Toyota Probox reportedly tried to seize him as he drove to work in Nakuru. He escaped the attempt.
Standard Group later said its investigations linked the vehicle to the National Police Service Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau. No one has been publicly held accountable over the incident.
Standard Group CEO Chaacha Mwita had earlier said the company held the state responsible for Kiprotich’s safety and described the incident as a possible attempt to intimidate the media house over its editorial coverage.
APERIT FM, HII NI YETU
