Thika trader suspects foul play in ‘mysterious’ fire that gutted down his shop.

Joseph Ngura shows the press some of the damages caused by the mysterious fire that gutted down his shop.

A mysterious early morning fire has destroyed property worth more than half a million shillings in a telecommunication shop along Kwame Nkrumah Road in Thika Town.

The fire which occurred on Monday and reduced to ashes most of the telecommunication equipment in the shop that is situated in the second floor of Githitu Building has prompted allegations of foul play due to the manner the place burst into flames.

According to its owner, Joseph Ngura, he had just left the office to pick up some files in the car that was parked near Witeithie House which is just about 100 metres away.

Upon return a few minutes later, he sensed some funny smoky scent from his office and upon opening the door to his control room, some flames burst out of the door and the fire fast spread towards the other rooms.

“I had left my cellphone in the office, so I dashed in and picked up very fast before calling on my neighbours to come and assist me put off the fire that had now spread very fast. Within a span of 5 minutes, it overwhelmed us and consumed most of the equipment in both the control centre and the editing room,” explained Joseph.

Joseph reckoned that had it not for the prompt response by the Thika Sub-County Fire Brigade, the damage would have been worse and the fire could have spread to the adjacent offices.

Though he does not want to pinpoint on anyone, he still suspects some foul play in this whole incident.

Thika West OCPD Willy Simba however declined to commit himself on the real cause of the fire incident and neither did he rule out a planned assault. He however assured that the police had set in motion investigations into the cause of the fire to fully establish what caused it.

“We do not know the cause of the fire and we don’t want to speculate. Our investigators have already taken up the matter and all angles are being pursued,” he said.

The shop, Joatech Services, deals with CCTV and internet connections, car track systems and installation of both domestic and commercial alarm systems among others.