It’s now emerging that a tip-off by a relative in Naivasha led to the arrest of a suspect involved in the kidnapping of a four-year-old last week.

On Monday evening, police from Naivasha rescued Liam Mwangi and arrested the main suspect after he kidnapped him and demanded Sh40,000 ransom.

The suspect identified as Charles King’ori was arrested in Site Estate in Naivasha five days after kidnapping the minor from his parents’ home in Gatanga in Thika.

The suspect would later leave the minor with his relatives in Naivasha as he sought more ransom from the distraught family where he incidentally worked as farm help.

Trouble started last week when the minor was kidnapped from their home by the suspect who had worked on the family’s farm for a couple of months.

He travelled to Naivasha and left the minor with his aunt claiming that he was his child and he had fallen out with the wife.

According to Zipporah Wambui, the suspect, who is her nephew, dropped the minor in their house claiming to be his son and promised to pick him up after three days.

She however learnt through the radio that the boy had been reported missing from their home and decided to tip off the police.

Wambui would later report the case in the near AP post in Site estate before police laid a trap and arrested the main suspect as he moved in to collect the minor.

"We know the suspect very well and when he requested that we stay with the minor we didn't have any problem," she said.

Naivasha OCPD Samuel Waweru confirmed the arrest, noting that their counterparts from Thika had taken over the case.

He added that the suspect had received over Sh40,000 as ransom from the family before asking for more while threatening to harm the minor.

"The police laid a trap for the suspect who had travelled to Nairobi and managed to arrest him as he went to collect the boy," he said.