Police have arrested a 30-year-old man suspected to be the leader of a gang said to be behind a spate of kidnappings and rape in Awendo and Uriri.
The suspect was arrested by Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) officers two days ago and is awaiting an identification parade.
County Criminal Investigations Officer Benedict Kigen said the suspect was arrested in Awendo town after a tip from the public.
The police have been on his trail for a while following the arrest of his accomplices earlier.
Mr Kigen said the suspect was tested in hospital and found to have acute gonorrhoea and other sexually transmitted Infections (STD).
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He is suspected to have infected his rape victims, including children.
"We will charge him with knowingly infecting his victims with STIs. In the past month, we have had at least five cases of women and children being kidnapped, dragged into the sugarcane plantations and raped. The suspects have been demanding ransom from the victims' families," he said.
During interrogation
The DCI boss told The Standard that during interrogation, the suspect, who has only one arm, confessed to being the gang leader and said he was jobless and "doing what he knows best".
"We are warning the others out there that the law will soon catch up with them," Kigen added.
The arrest comes barely two weeks after this newspaper broke the story that residents in Awendo and Uriri had raised concerns about the spate of kidnappings in the area.
Early this year, one of the gang members was lynched by boda boda riders after he and his colleagues waylaid a female teacher and raped her in the sugarcane plantations before demanding a Sh25,000 ransom.
Their latest victim was a 30-year-old widow and mother of four young children who tearfully narrated to The Standard how she spent two cold nights in a cane plantation at the mercy of two kidnappers.
From her home in Manyatta, Awendo, the woman, who depends on menial jobs to survive, looked traumatised.
She recalled how she had left for home on Sunday evening from Awendo town, where she had gone to look for work for the day.
The widow said as she walked home, a man emerged with a panga and led her into the thick plantation where he raped her.
