Manuni village elder Said Hussein looks at the burnt remains of a community policing booth that was burnt by a group of armed youths at Manuni, Mtopanga in Mombasa. [Photo: Omondi Onyango / Standard]

By Benard Sanga and Stanley Mwahanga

Mombasa, Kenya: Police are trailing a gang that razed down a community policing camp in Kisauni, Mombasa County after members of the public lynched a suspected robber in the area.

According to witnesses, the suspect was found robbing someone’s house and was frog marched to the community policing booth where the public later turned on him and set him a blaze.

After this, a group of youths, armed with crude weapons, stormed the community policing office, accused the occupants of not protecting the suspected thief before razing the booth down.

Residents told The Standard they believe the youth belong to a notorious brotherhood group popularly known as 40 brothers, who have been blamed for a wave of robbery incidences in Kisauni.

The gang, which operates within Mombasa County, is said to use crude weapons to terrorise victims and has been accused several times of raping women.

Angry members of the public, who accuse the police of doing little to root out the gang, have in the recent past also come out fighting by lynching suspected members of the gang whenever they are nabbed.

Burnt down

Kisauni Deputy OCPD Walter Bondo said while he could not confirm that the gang was behind the act, police were trailing them.

“Our preliminary investigations show that a group of youth arrived at the scene in Manuni area, Mtopanga Estate at around 9.30am in a bid to help the suspect only to find the lifeless body of their colleague. They then turned on the area security team accusing them of not protecting the suspect,” he said.

Bondo said the suspect had been found trying to steal from a house, but a neighbor raised the alarm, alerting people who descended on the thief with stones and other weapons before they lynched him.

Bondo said though the community policing booth was burnt to a shell, no one had been hurt.

Revenge threats

Tension was rife in Mtopanga area yesterday after the group vowed to strike at night and revenge the killing of their colleague.

Police, however, assured residents that security had been beefed up and that there would be more police patrols in the area.

Last February, two night guards were killed in the Kiembeni area of Kisauni. One night guard was hacked to death while the other was strangled outside the premises they were manning. The two were killed a few metres apart, with no indication of any resistance or struggle.

In April last year, police withdrew three police booths from the area fearing attacks after a group of youth attacked a police station in Frere town area, injured an officer and stole his G3 riffle.

In November last year,  an officer was shot dead by unknown people on a motorbike at Bakarani area of Kisauni.

Residents have condemned the rising insecurity, urging police to be more vigilant against the gangs that are becoming more brazen.