Six hours of terror: Harrowing abduction ordeal for Standard Group editor

The phone went dead, and with it, hope flickered like a candle in the wind, only that this time, the wind was gathering pace.

It was 9:20 pm on Tuesday when Standard Group Senior Editor Alex Kiprotich made his final desperate call to the company's Head of Security, Tom Kipyegon. The editor's voice was frantic, barely coherent, shouting that he was being abducted in Gilgil. Then silence. The line went dead. Kipyegon tried calling back repeatedly, but each attempt was met with nothing. Minutes later, Kiprotich's phone was completely switched off. The nightmare had begun. And the nightmare's name was Kenya Police.

The next six hours were a dreadful, near death experience. His ordeal began on that fateful evening when heavily armed men intercepted his vehicle in Gilgil.

According to his driver, Geoffrey Kamau Njoroge, they had left Nairobi just a few minutes before 7:00 pm. At the Gilgil weighbridge, where a notorious bottleneck forces vehicles into a single lane with no room to maneuver, a Subaru bearing registration number KDG 125E suddenly blocked their path. Armed men poured out of the vehicle.

The Standard has since confirmed that KDG 125E belongs to a government vehicle under the use of the Kenya Police. However, yesterday evening an entry had been made at the NTSA portal saying the number belongs to a Honda vehicle registered to an Alex Maundu.

Dashboard camera footage installed in Kiprotich's vehicle captured the scary moment when four men immediately surrounded his car and demanded that he step out. The Standard can establish that the officer wielding a gun shouting "utaona maajabu" has been identified as one corporal Ronald Chemosit who serves in the Operations Support Unit (OSU) under the DCI.

The source who knows the OSU operations say they operate from the Nairobi Area Traffic Headquarters. They were formed late 2022 after the Special Support Unit, who were accused of abducting two Indian nationals, was disbanded. "They were formed to take on armed and hardcore criminals. However, after the Gen Z protests their brief changed to target government critics," he told The Standard. Where as the officers are junior in rank, the source claimed, "they do not take instructions from even the AIG. They report to DCI boss Amin and a State House operative". The unit, the source said, is run by one Zacharia Kariuki a retired officer but who has been given a contract that runs until August 2027 when elections will be held. "He is on contract and he is the only officer on such terms," the source said, a claim collaborated by the Kenya Union of Journalists officials.

Threatening bodily harm, they forcibly extracted Kiprotich from the vehicle and threw him onto the tarmac while others ransacked the car.

Kiprotich's driver, Kamau, still seated in the driver's seat, watched in horror as one of the assailants tried to pull him out.

"One of them tried to pull me out of the vehicle, but I had my seatbelt on. He fumbled with the clasp but stopped when others told him that they should be leaving. He, however, took my phone and Kiprotich's phone," Njoroge recounted.

Kiprotich was then bundled into the Subaru and held face down by the four men. The vehicle sped off.

Inside the Subaru, Kiprotich was blindfolded, disoriented, and terrified. His captors handed him a phone and demanded he switch it off.

"They handed me a phone and asked me to switch it off because it had a password. I told them that it was not my phone. It was Njoroge's phone. They then took my phone and switched it off. They also took my wallet," said Kiprotich.

Despite his fear, he carefully observed his abductors. He identified one man who appeared to be the leader of the group.

"He kept updating someone on the phone about the ongoing situation. He confirmed to the person at the end of the line that I was in their custody, that they had left my driver, and thrown away his car keys," narrated Kiprotich.

Meanwhile, Kamau refused to give up. soon as the Subaru left heading towards Nairobi, he started following them.

"I had no phone. No means of communication. So I followed them from Gilgil to the Naivasha junction that heads to Kinangop. At that point, because I had no phone, I decided I wouldn't follow them anymore since I could save Alex by spreading the word. I came to the Nairobi office," said Njoroge.

His decision to abandon the chase proved critical. Back at Standard Group headquarters, the crisis was unfolding in real-time. Kiprotich's frantic 9:20 PM call had triggered emergency protocols.

Kipyegon immediately informed the CEO.

"He called and shouted that he was being abducted in Gilgil. The phone then went dead, and when I tried calling back, he didn't pick. After a few minutes, his phone went dead, and we immediately initiated emergency protocols. Started by informing the CEO," he said.

Standard Group GCEO Chaacha Mwita was informed of Kiprotich's abduction at 9:30 pm. He wasted no time alerting shareholders and board members before calling for an emergency meeting of the "war council".

"I called some of our editors and managers, and we started using our news sources and friends to help us track, rescue, and bring back Kiprotich," said Mwita.

By 10:00 pm, it was becoming clear that the no other security organs had a hand in the abduction. All fingers were now pointed at the police.

Inspector General Kanja immediately denied any police involvement in Kiprotich's abduction.

"Police will never abduct a newspaper editor. The police can just do a lawful arrest and present a suspect in court. It's not police who abducted Kiprotich," said Kanja. He, however, expressed shock at the development and said he was not aware of any such arrest.

But the evidence kept mounting. Kipyegon and senior editors were tossed between Richfield Police Post, Industrial Area Police Station, and Hazina Police Station as no officer wanted to record their statement and issue an Occurrence Book (OB) number. Eventually, officers from Industrial Area Police Station relented and recorded the statement.

Then came a breakthrough.

The team at Standard Group had started tracking the Ford double cab that Alex had been using. It was tracked to James Gichuru Road in Nairobi, where a team was dispatched for follow-up. Fortunately, Kamau managed to drive to the office and narrated his ordeal, revealing that Kiprotich had been bundled onto a Subaru and the vehicle was last seen heading towards Kinangop.

Inside the Subaru, Kiprotich was losing all sense of time and direction. For hours, the four men drove him around in circles.

"They left the tarmac and got into a gravel road. I knew they were going to finish me, and I told them so when they asked me if the incident would be page one of The Standard," Kiprotich recalled.

Then inexplicably, they stopped and got Kiprotich out of the vehicle, told him to lie down on the grass, and ordered him not to move until they came for him. Then they drove off, leaving him alone in the darkness.

"It was a thicket. Dusty. I stood up and looked around. I didn't know which part of Kenya I was in. But I could see light from a distance, so I walked towards it," said Kiprotich.

That light led him to the home of Onesmus Mutinda in Ekalakala Village, on the shores of Masinga Dam.

"It was 3:30 am when someone came into my home and knocked on my door. He told me he had been dumped by police in a thicket, so I took him in. Gave him my phone so that he could make calls," said Mutinda.

At 3:40 am on Wednesday, the call came. Back at Standard Group headquarters, footage from Kiprotich's car had been downloaded and packed into a story already under heavy rotation on social media and KTN TV. The team was working frantically when the phone rang. It was Alex disoriented but alive.

The good samaritan Mutinda directed the CEO and the Standard team to Masinga.

This is the second time that Kiprotich has been targeted. On June 27, 2026, armed men in a Toyota Probox tried to seize him from his car as he drove to work in Nakuru. He got away by locking his doors and driving off. That attempt came days after President William Ruto publicly criticised The Standard over its coverage, and our own investigations traced the vehicle to the National Police Service's Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau. No one has ever been held to account for it. Coincidentally, the President a few days ago, during a pass out parade of recruits, ordered police to observe the rule of law and not harm a civilian exercises his or her right.

Speaking on behalf of the organization, Mwita expressed gratitude to all who stood with the group during those agonizing hours.

"We thank everyone who mobilised through the night to search for him, prayed for him, and stood with this Group and his family through an anxious few hours including the household that opened its doors to him," said Chaacha

"The circumstances of Mr Kiprotich's abduction remain deeply troubling, and we will continue to press for full accountability. We will share further information as it becomes available. For now, we are simply grateful that Alex is safe. We thank God Alex is safe. And we aren't using God's name in vain like those characters who invoke God but do terrible things," says Mwita.

Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka today reached out to Mwita to express his deep condolences following the abduction of editor Kiprotich. In their conversation, Kalonzo reaffirmed the party's unwavering solidarity with the media fraternity, stating: "The media, especially the Standard Group remains the last bastion of democracy in this country. We cannot and will not allow any forces, whether state or non-state actors, to intimidate, silence, or abduct those who speak truth to power. Kenya has no time for such lawless behaviours, and we shall not rest until those responsible are brought to justice. Beyond our borders, we will also rally the international community to shine a spotlight on these troubling developments, because the world must know that the Kenya we love is a Kenya that upholds the rule of law, press freedom, and human dignity.

Musyoka further urged all Kenyans to remain vigilant and to reject any attempts to erode the hard-won freedoms enshrined in the Constitution.