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Police in Nakuru have arrested 128 suspects linked to the ‘confirmed’ criminal gang that has been terrorising residents for months, as the search for the gang heads intensifies.
The region’s police boss says officers have already identified the suspected heads of the gang operations.
This comes on the back of increased cases of insecurity that has seen women attacked and killed before their houses were torched in Mawanga, Nakuru North.
In a press briefing on Tuesday, Rift-Valley Regional Commissioner Maalim Mohamed disclosed that security officers have recovered some 436 mobile phones, 77 assorted weapons, and over 3, 000 rolls of bhang.
The police boss has linked the gang to drug trafficking and abuse activities in informal settlement areas in the city like Kivumbini and Bondeni estates.
“We are now going to intensify the crackdown because we have identified the hotspot areas of the gang in various parts of the city. We have now established the relationship between drug abuse and the criminal gangs,” Maalim said.
“The main characters are drug barons in Kivumbini and Bondeni. We have identified the coordinator and financier of the gang and search is underway,” he added.
While patrolling the city, the officers also recovered 10 unclaimed motorcycles.
“No one has laid claim to any of the bikes, so we will get authorisation to forfeit them for auction."
On Tuesday morning, Nakuru Town East MP David Gikaria was interrogated by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) over the rising insecurity in the county.
Hours before, Gikaria was summoned to record a statement at the Regional DCI Offices in Nakuru.
Area County Criminal Investigation Officer Anthony Sunguti said the lawmaker was expected to appear for questioning over security-related issues.
The summons came a day after a security meeting between members of the public, leaders, and security personnel was held in the Mawanga area following the murder of six women in a span of months.
Residents have blamed the rising insecurity cases on suspected gang members. In the meeting, locals claimed that some politicians have been funding and protecting the gang.
