Police kill 80 criminals in year of swoop on most dangerous gang

Nairobi County Police Commander Japheth Koome. [File, Standard]

Illicit activities by Gaza gang members, also known as Portmore, are among the things Nairobians are unlikely to forget.

The gang reigned terror in most informal settlements, especially Eastlands, leaving a trail of deaths and injuries. Theirs was to create a dreaded empire to enhance their criminal businesses.

And in reaction, the police responded with heavy force. So far, 80 members of the gang have been killed this year alone in several parts of the city and on the outskirts.

The gang has also killed at least eight police officers as they snatched weapons from them.

A special squad was formed to track down the gang. The officers even formed a Facebook page with many titles where they freely interacted with the members of the gang. There was Hessy wa Kayole, Hessy wa Dandora, Hessy wa Huruma among other names whose purpose was to communicate with the youth in the criminal gang.

"Hessy" is a slang for police officer. It is a popular slang among many youth, especially in Eastlands.

The Gaza youngsters – male and female – are usually dressed in silver and gold coloured rings, neck chains, oversized hoods and have tattooed bodies as part of their identity.

Their activities had forced most businesses in parts of Tassia, Soweto, Dandora and Kayole to always close before dark.

The gangsters are organised in the manner of infamous Jamaican criminal gang Gaza from Portmore (a shanty town in Jamaica), whose members steal and kill at will under the command of jailed Jamaican dancehall artiste Adjija Palmer aka Vybz Kartel.

The gang has been in existence since 2012 and came to prominence when some of its members attended a huge political rally in the city, a few days to the 2013 General Election.

Emboldened after the event, the gang members went on a violent spree that alarmed security agents and residents.

The gang is thought to be a cult on a mission to confuse poor and gullible youth who are allegedly being promised a better life by unknown people.

To the many, they are armed and violent gang targeting Mpesa shops and police officers for weapons.

Their other core business is narcotics. They have taken over drug businesses in most parts of Eastlands.

Shockingly, a popular church in the city is behind their oath-taking sessions and usually pays each member of the gang in the distribution of the drugs Sh2,000 weekly, according to a member now under rehabilitation.

Some residents have mentioned a city politician as the man behind the gang.

“He can't be touched because he is in power,” said one officer aware of the politician’s activities.

To fight the gang, a team of police officers using slang identities have been posting photos of wanted criminals and telling them to repent or they be killed.

The officers seem to coordinate their operations well. Whenever a wanted gangster is killed, they post their photos on the Facebook pages, saying their accomplices are at large and name them.

The security tactic came to the limelight after the killing of female suspect Clare Mwaniki alias Clea Adi Vybz nicknamed "Nairobi's prettiest thug" in May.

Hessy wa Kayole had warned her that she should change her criminal ways or face a dire consequence. And few days later, Claire was mowed down by police bullets in Chokaa area on May 9.

"Clea Adi Vybz, do you remember my warning to her to stop committing robberies with her husband Mwanii?" Hessy wa Kayole posted after the killing of the woman.

Two weeks later, another female suspect identified as only Marsha Minaj was gunned down in Migingo, Kayole.

Details of her death were revealed on a Facebook account being run by unknown person who claims he is a police officer.

The mysterious police officer, who goes by the name 'Hessy Wa Kayole', posted gory pictures of the suspect in a Facebook group called "Kayole Crime Free".

To the locals and majority who are following the "undercover officers", they are doing "a great" job in reducing crime. But to human rights defenders, the moves amount to extrajudicial killings.

Nairobi police boss Japheth Koome disowned those behind the platforms, saying no officer fights crime on social media.