Kenya’s security officers are interrogating more than 150 suspected criminals who were rounded up in a security operation in Nairobi and recovered several paraphernalia in the last 24 hours.
The suspects belonging to criminal gangs — Gaza and outlawed Mungiki sect — were nabbed in operation in Kayole residential estate in Nairobi.
Kayole divisional police commander Ali Nuno said the police also recovered training materials and books of financial contributions from the shadowy criminal gang, the Mungiki, whose 24 members were arrested.
“They are all expected in court on Thursday to face various charges. The Mungiki gang seems to have changed tactics and they are now extorting with menace,” said Nuno.
Mungiki, a group best known for its deadly beheading of victims, was responsible for some forms of violence in the past years, much like the Janjaweed in Sudan’s Darfur.
However, the sect’s criminal activities had gone down following persistent police operations in which tens of them went missing or were found dead since 2007.
Gaza on the other hand is a criminal armed group aged between 15 and 20 that operates in Kayole area and has been linked to several murder, robbery, kidnapping and extortion claims.
It has been linked to many unsolved murder and other violent crime incidents.
Most members of the Gaza Boys, most of whom are known to be students in local schools, have been roaming the sprawling estate, terrorizing residents at will while in a group of 15.
Nuno said the 15 men and nine women (Mungiki gang) were arrested following a tip-off from the public.
“We were told the members were going to hold a meeting in a residential house in Kayole, from around 2am to 3am,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nuno said the police officers also arrested 80 more suspected members of Gaza in a similar operation in the area on Tuesday, adding that they separately arrested 24 men they believe are members of Mungiki criminal gang.
The police officers will sustain their operations in the area against the criminal gangs that operate there.
Nuno said Gaza gang is also active in the area despite an amnesty that had been declared on them months ago. Enditem
Source: Xinhua
