Juvenile gangs terrorise Mombasa, Kwale residents amid rising insecurity

A video clip of a prominent blogger and critic of the Mombasa county government reliving how he was kidnapped and sedated has sparked outrage and protests at the Coast.

The attack has lifted the lid on the worrying state of crime by juvenile gangs targeting people at will in the Coastal city.

In the viral video, a tearful Bruce John narrated from a hospital bed how the gang of 20 youths abducted him from his house in the Bamburi area at night, masquerading as police officers sent to arrest him.

“When neighbours confronted them, they said they were police officers sent by senior county officers who wanted to meet me. I know most of them and they are not police officers,” he said.

The blogger said he was later bundled into a car and his face covered with a sack before the youths started to beat him. They later tied his legs and hand, beat him up, and drove to an unknown location.

Last Friday, family members, friends, bloggers, and human rights activists demonstrated at the Regional Police Headquarters to demand justice for John, linking his attacks to his recent criticism of the county.

His sister, Ruth Kache told Mombasa Police Commander Peter Kimani that John’s attackers were known juvenile gangs with links to some senior officers at the County Government of Mombasa.

It is not clear if police have apprehended any suspect as The Standard’s efforts to get a comment from police proved futile.

In the recent past, deadly gangs are slowly creeping back in Mombasa and Kwale counties where they are attacking and robbing locals and tourists. 

In the wake of a resurgence of criminal gangs, security agents are said to be strategising to counter the wave as questions abound on the motives behind the dreaded wave of insecurity. On Wednesday, Mvita Deputy County Commissioner (DCC) Ahmed Mohamud told journalists that security agents had tightened the noose on gangs and have since arrested over 163 suspects.

He admitted that attacks have happened within Mombasa town and that security and intelligence committees were devising strategies to flush out criminal gangs in the CBD.

On Saturday, three men armed with machetes were captured on CCTV at Moons area in Mvita’s Tononoka ward, robbing a man in broad daylight before they fled on a motorbike.

A fortnight ago, a gang of about 50 robbers terrorised commuters inside a ferry at the Likoni crossing channel, a designated security area, just 100 meters from the Likoni Police Station.

“I was coming from work at around 11pm and as I boarded the ferry, a group of armed youths started to attack and rob commuters,” said one of the victims, Ms Elali Gombe.

Ms Gombe said the attackers were aged between 13 and 20 years and were armed with iron rods and knives. As chaos erupted, the coxswain moved the ferry into the sea and closed the ferry ramp to deter the attackers from fleeing.

Security analysts in Mombasa attribute the resurgence of insecurity to politics and the suspension of feeding programme by the Mombasa Cement Limited following the demise of its owner, Hasmukh Patel alias Hasu.

“Hundreds if not thousands of jobless youth who used to be fed by Hasu are desperate and the county does not come up with ways to deal with the street families,” said Julius Ogogoh, the Executive Director of the Commission for Human Rights.

He said whenever the feeding programme is suspended, CCTVs capture a crowd of criminal gangs robbing unsuspected locals, catching security officers unawares, in Mombasa CBD.