Jane Mugo, a Kenyan private detective was on Monday a hotly talked about subject online following a documentary by BBC Africa Eye.
The BBC Africa Eye documentary titled “Kenya’s Spy Queen” was posted on BBC’s YouTube page giving a rare peep into the life of Detective Mugo.
Before long, Kenyans were all over forcing the comment section to be turned off.
Mugo is no stranger to Kenyans. Little was known of her until 2019 when a warrant of arrest was issued against her by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
DCI termed her a “serial offender” wanted for threatening to shoot a person, detaining another person in 2015 and demanding a Ksh440,000 pay.
When she was presented in court over these charges, she termed them “mere witch hunt”.
However, in the new documentary, Mugo’s life is laid bare. Interesting is one word that sums up the former police officer’s life who ventured into a multi-million dollar business in Kenya.
She lives an executive life if her guarded, state-of-the-art home is anything to go by. Her compound is guarded on a 24-hour basis. Some of her security personnel are former police officers.
Mugo also has fierce dogs such as “Hitler” the menacing dog who takes charge at enemies who dare approach Mugo’s compound in the outskirts of the city.
For her, death threats are a constant reality she has had to deal with seriously after solving high profile cases ranging from murder, robbery, kidnapping and corruption.
She also spies for politicians during campaigns, a task that has earned her more enemies than friends but one that gets her pockets heavier.
This is where her life gets interesting. Her food must be tasted by her head of security Charlie One and personal chef.
Mugo explains she does not take chances and no one close to her is above suspicion. In 2018, she recalled battling a poisoning incident when she went for lunch at an undisclosed place in the city.
She dispels notions that she could be just paranoid saying “it is just in my system”.
Mugo’s job is not easy. But she is assisted by 10 private detectives who brief her on a regular basis of how cases they are working on are progressing.
She notes that she has a huge client base and some of her clients are people who feel that the police are compromised or did shoddy investigations into their cases.
The mother of two describes herself as the best female private detective in Kenya and the entire Africa.
“I am the best in the world. In Africa, in Kenya, nobody can beat me up,” she says with a tone of confidence.
Hitherto, she has solved 300 cases, putting behind bars 71 criminals involved in some of these crimes.
Charlie One has vast foreign military experience and he is tasked with building the capacity of Mugo’s security detail. He leads them in rigorous security drills which he describes as “better than that of US Navy Seals”.
