The operators from Engineer town moved to the notorious Kinale forest along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway with high hopes that they could Peter Ngugi.
The conductor went missing five days ago and it’s feared that he could have been killed and the body dumped in the forest where in the past tens of bodies have been recovered.
The operators combed the vast Kinale forest in search of the missing conductor but the exercise was called off after unsubstantiated that he had been spotted in Mombasa.
His brother James Macharia said that the missing conductor was lured by unknown people into a waiting saloon car at the Fly-Over Matatu terminus and had not been seen since them.
“Since then we have not heard from him and our fear is that he could have been kidnapped by some people over the control of this route,” he said.
A driver Elijah Kamau said they stayed at the terminus for less than ten minutes and was shocked when he became unreachable on his mobile phone.
“Am still in a state of shock and cannot really explain what happened as he left to make some errands but never returned,” he said.
Engineer MCA Mwangi Gichuki called on the police to beef up security saying another matatu conductor had gone missing last month and was yet to be found.
“It a dangerous trend and am calling on the police to up their game and nail the suspects as we fear that there is more into this incident,” he said.
Nyandarua South OCPD Samson Munyao who was present during the search said they were investigating the matter.
He called on the members of the public to volunteer information that would help the police in apprehending the suspects.
He however could not substantiate reports that the missing conductor had been spotted in Mombasa town.
“We are liaising with our colleagues from the Coast region but we are yet to get details about the conductor being found in Mombasa,” said Munyao.
Majority of the matatu crew operating along the Naivasha-Engineer route abandoned duties to engage in the search.