United States authorities quietly jetted into the country and spirited away wanted murder suspect Kevin Kang’ethe on Sunday night.

 Sources privy to the highly discreet, undercover operation revealed that the Americans flew into the country acting on extradition orders granted by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and under the cover of darkness, spirited their suspect out of the country in a “cut-and-paste” operation similar to the one which saw the two Akasha brothers, Baktash and Ibrahim, smuggled out of the country in 2017 on allegations of smuggling tonnes of heroin to the US. Yesterday, the DPP’s office, in a statement, confirmed Kang’ethe’s extradition to the US to face justice.

In a letter dated September 2, the DPP, Renson Ingonga, said that he had successfully secured the fugitive’s extradition.

 “Great teamwork!! He is heading back to face justice! Thank you all,’ read a caption below a photo of Kang’ethe being escorted to a private jet by detectives from the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) believed to have been taken on Sunday night.

In the photo, Kang’ethe, with his back to the camera’ is donning a navy blue jumper and blue headsets as he ascends the stairs in the company of FBI detectives and officers from the DPP’s office.

FBI boss visit

Sunday night’s extradition, sources revealed, was the culmination of months of collaboration between the DPP’s office and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI)  which saw the latter’s boss, Christopher Wray travel to Kenya in June this year to fine-tune plans to extradite Kang’ethe to the US to face justice. 

According to the DPP, Kang’ethe left Nairobi on September 1 and is set to face murder charges at Suffolk Superior Court in Pemberton Square today September 3.

 “Kang’ethe flew to Kenya in 2023 after allegedly killing his lover Margaret Mbitu and left her body in a vehicle parked at Logan airport”, the letter reads in part.

 Washington D.C. served Nairobi with an extradition request upon arrest of the suspect.

 Kang’ethe was later apprehended by Kenyan police and arraigned before Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi where Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina allowed the extradition application by the DPP.

 The DPP has reiterated his support to the USA prosecution team so as the propel the murder case. He also assured the family of the late victim support and prayers from the Kenyan prosecution department.

Prosecution team

 “I wish to reiterate my commitment and support whenever needed to the United States of America and in particular the prosecution team as they proceed with the next phase of the case. To the family of the late Margaret Mbitu, we offer our support and prayers” wrote the DPP.

 The success of the extradition comes after Ingonga assured the FBI Director Christopher Wray in June 2024 that his office was keen to ensure that justice in the case was done with speed.

 Kang’ethe dramatically escaped from police custody at the Muthaiga Police Station in Nairobi in last February this year as he was awaiting extradition on a Massachusetts warrant alleging he killed his girlfriend and left her body in a car at a Boston airport.

 The 40-year-old man accused of murdering his 30-year-old girlfriend and later dumping her body in a car had escaped from the Muthaiga Police Station in Nairobi under unclear circumstances.

  Police say Kang’ethe who was to be extradited to the US to face first-degree murder charges escaped custody on February 7 at around 7:30 pm and later managed to flee by jumping onto a waiting matatu.

 Nairobi Police boss Adamson Bungei had told journalists that a junior officer had reported that the suspect was talking to his lawyer at the station and within a few minutes, managed to escape by boarding a matatu that had parked at the stage meters away.

 Bungei, who later visited the police station following the escape, ordered the arrest of four police officers who were on duty when the incident occurred. He added that the suspect’s lawyer was also apprehended.

 The police officers had said that on the material day around 4pm, a man named John Maina Ndegwa introduced himself to them as Kangethe’s lawyer and said he wanted to speak with his client.

 “The officers agreed to his request and led the prisoner out of the cells and took him to an office, leaving them there. After a short while the prisoner escaped by running away and left the lawyer behind,” read a police report.

 It added that police officers pursued Kangethe but did not catch him, adding that Ndegwa was arrested.

 Bungei said he rushed to the station when he learned of the escape. “We have arrested the officers who were on duty when he escaped to explain how it happened. It is just embarrassing to us,” said the police chief. Kangethe had been detained pending a ruling on whether he should be extradited to face a first-degree murder charge in connection with the death of Margaret Mbitu on October 31.

 Reports indicated that Ms Mbitu, a health care aide in Halifax, a town in the US state of Massachusetts, was last seen leaving work on October 30 and was reported missing by her family.

 Preliminary investigation showed Mbitu had left her workplace and travelled with Kangethe to Lowell, Massachusetts, where he lived, the prosecution said.

 Massachusetts State Police said in early November that Kangethe had left her body in a car at Logan International Airport and boarded a flight to Kenya. 

 US officials said they were working with Kenyan authorities to locate him, and he was arrested in a Nairobi nightclub on January 30 after being on the run for three months.

 Kang’ethe was being held at the Muthaiga police station awaiting a ruling on whether Kenya will extradite him to the US to face the murder charges of Ms Mbitu who was brutally killed on October 31, 2023.