This archive report was first published on 1 December 2019.
On December 1, 2019, Chief Inspector Monica Wambui Githaiga, a senior police officer attached to the Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU), collapsed and died upon arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi.
She had arrived at JKIA from Japan, where she had been on a short course, after connecting from Dubai and Addis Ababa aboard Ethiopian Airlines.
According to police, Ms Githaiga had complained of feeling unwell in Dubai and was attended to before boarding her flight to Nairobi.
Upon arrival at JKIA, she collapsed and died, and was later confirmed dead at a clinic within the airport.
Ms Githaiga was the lead investigator in the dusitD2 Hotel attack on 14 Riverside Drive, Nairobi, which occurred on January 15 and resulted in the deaths of 21 people.
She had previously testified in court about the investigation, revealing that one of the suspects in custody had received Sh9 million from South Africa, which was withdrawn through M-Pesa and later through Diamond Trust Bank, Eastleigh Branch.
Police suspect that the money was for financing terrorism, and that the suspect had registered 47 Sim Cards using different identity cards and names, which were all used in two handsets geo-located within Eastleigh area, Nairobi.
