It was a dramatic scene at Chaka Town in Nyeri County when a man managed to disarm a robber who attacked him as he made his way hom after a long day at work.

The 55- year-old man identified as Irungu Mwangi snatched the AK-47 rifle that was in the possession of the unknown assailant who had accosted him along Chaka Primary School at around 8 pm on the night of Tuesday, June 7, leading him to run for his life in the darkness.

The robber had been trailing him, and when he caught up with him, he asked him to hand whatever money he had on him with the gun pointed to his chest, but to the thief's disappointment, the amount was just too little and continued to harass him for more.

"Irungu obliged and when the thug demanded for money, he fished out the only Sh200 note that he had and handed it to him. The thug demanded for more money as Irungu pleaded for his life, saying that that’s all he had remaining from his day’s work," the statement from the DCI stated.

The incident proceeded to take an interesting twist when the unconvinced assailant dropped his rifle to ransack the man's pockets, with one foot on his back to gain access to Irungu's pockets.

Irungu made a quick move and shoved the robber to the ground and reached for the firearm, which led to a struggle between the two men for the  gun. Irungu seemed to overpower him however and quickly gained control by holding it firmly at the pistol grip and hand guard.

The scared thug took to his heels, and was lucky that Irungu had no idea how to operate the rifle. The police were then alerted of the incident and rushed to scene, only to find out that the rifle was in fact stolen from the law enforcers and was being used for crime.

"When police officers arrived, it was established that the firearm, serial number AK47 S/No. KP 4915512 with a magazine loaded with 15 rounds of 7.62mm special, was stollen from Nairutia police station in Kieni West Sub-county, on April, 15, 2022 and reported vide OB 05/18/04/2022 at the same station," the statement further read.

Also recovered at the scene of the scuffle was a police beret belonging to the Administration Police Service.

It was after the whole scuffle that Irungu revealed that his quick thinking and maneuver of the rifle was learnt through observation of police trainees as he had lived close to the National Police College  Main Campus in Kiganjo.

"Irungu, who thanked God for saving his life, attributed his bravery to living close to the nearby National Police College Main Campus-Kiganjo, where out of curiosity he had twice peeked through the thick Kei Apple (Kaiyaba) hedgerow, as trainees undertook their musketry &martial arts lessons in the region’s premier police training college," the DCI noted.

The detectives have stated that a manhunt for the suspect for the suspect is ongoing, urging members of the public to come forward with information if they were privy to his whereabouts.