Detectives drawn from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Saturday night arrested 44 teenagers and a woman at a house party in Mountain View Estate, Nairobi.

According to the DCI statement, the teenagers—among the 26 boys and 18 girls who are aged between 14 to 17 years—were being hosted by the 41-year-old woman. They were also found with various brands of alcohol and rolls of bhang, the DCI revealed.

“Their host, Millicent Kithinji, aged 41, was picked up for questioning by detectives based at Dagoretti. Officers seized different brands of Whisky and vodka and bhang (cannabis Sativa),” noted the DCI.

Police investigations revealed that the teenagers, who are in primary and high schools, are majorly drawn from Nairobi, Kiambu and Machakos counties. The officers said they had contacted some of their parents. Warning against abuse of children, the police said investigations are ongoing to establish how the teenagers gained entry into the compound of Kithinji.

DCI tweeted: “Police also want to establish why the woman had hosted the children and how the children got to her house. The DCI once again requests parents to take a keen interest in their children’s activities at home and on the social media networks.”

Nightmare for parents

The raid comes just a couple of days after DCI’s Child Protection Unit rescued three of the five girls who were suspected to have gone missing from their homes in Kamulu and Komarock estates in Nairobi.

Yesterday, the police said parents from Nairobi’s Komarock and Kayole estates were the worst-hit in the new wave of the mysterious disappearance of teenage school girls. In a statement issued on Twitter yesterday, the sleuths blamed the rampant disappearance on criminal elements organising house parties.

“While being interrogated by detectives attached to DCI’s Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Protection Unit and the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau, the young girls revealed how they were lured from their home and linked up in partying joints in Nairobi,” DCI said.

They further warned individuals targeting young and vulnerable teenage boys and girls to stop their activities; lest they face the law.

“The DCI wishes to inform the public that we are hunting down members of the cartel and they’ll be apprehended to answer for their crimes.”