During the Saturday night operation near Naivasha prison, the officers managed to recover the stolen items from the carjackers in their mid-20s.
Three other suspects managed to escape from the police who managed to recover mobile phones and other effects stolen from the passengers.
The Saturday evening incident came a day after another group of passengers was robbed on the same highway while on their way to Nairobi.
In all the incidents, two passengers who included a woman would board a matatu in Nakuru in the night and on reaching Naivasha would ask to be dropped only for their accomplices to strike.
In the latest incident according to a victim John Kinyanjui, a man and a woman had boarded a matatu destined for Nairobi in Nakuru town.
But on reaching Mithuri estate in Naivasha, the two asked the driver to drop them and in the process, five other gun-toting thugs moved in from the darkness and took control of the matatu.
“They drove us to an abandoned quarry off the highway and for over two hours they robbed us and used our phones to transfer cash to their phones,” he said.
Naivasha Deputy OCPD John Kwasa said that they suspected that the group was behind a series of robberies along the highway.
He said that acting on a tip-off from members of the public, they managed to corner six suspects killing three while the other three escaped.
“We have managed to recover a toy pistol, ten mobile phones, a laptop, IDs and other personal effects which were stolen from the passengers,” he said.
Kwasa added that they were tracking the other suspects who fled with gunshot wounds and called on members of the public to assist them with information.
“In all the robberies, the passengers have identified one woman who had a tattoo on her arm as the main culprit and tonight we have managed to catch up with them,” he said.
The senior police officer called on matatu operators to take details of their passengers mainly in the evening to reduce cases of carjacking.
“In the last one month we have recorded similar cases of carjacking along the Nairobi-Nakuru and Naivasha-Mai Mahiu roads and we believe that this will now end,” he said.
Antony Gitonga