Criminals relocating to other towns, DCI

Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Nairobi. [Standard,File]

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has revealed that criminals who have been carrying out their activities in the city have relocated to other areas after committing their crimes in Nairobi.

According to the investigating agency, some of these criminals now favour relocating to towns surrounding Nairobi like Thika, Kiambu, Machakos and Kajiado.

DCI also says that some criminals have relocated to as far as Nakuru, and the Western, Nyanza and North Rift regions to avoid arrest.

It is alleged that the people behind some of these groups involved in organized crime are feared due to their political affiliations and influence.

They say that have their hideouts in the Lamu, Diani and Mombasa in the coastal region and Eastlands, Roysambu, Kilimani and Kileleshwa in Nairobi.

According to police, the sale of drugs has been taking place in bars and nightclubs with some chemists and pharmacies being used as distribution points.

They say that their operation has led to the rescuing of several human trafficking victims as well as the seizure of human trophies destined for the Asian market.

In Nairobi, they arrested Sadia Adan Abdirahman in Sosion Estate, Kayole where they rescued six Ethiopian nationals they believed were being trafficked.

They say that Sadia's husband managed to escape and believe that he sells bhang and has been aiding the wife in the human trafficking business.

According to DCI, 500 people who were being trafficked through Kenya were rescued in January with five succumbing due to the inhumane conditions and suffocation during transit.

Police also arrested Patrick Msengeti Juma who they say is a trophy dealer operating in Voi.

Juma was found in possession of a piece of an elephant tusk weighing four kilograms estimated to be worth Sh5 million.

In the fight against drug trafficking, police arrested Zachariah Kilonzo Muli on January 31.

They say that he is a notorious bhang trafficker who was found in possession of two hundred bales of bhang with an estimated weight of 1000 kilograms.

Police say that he uses his facility to store drugs on behalf of the cartels operating along Machakos and Mombasa.

On the same day, the police arrested four people in Kamulu who they believed to be distributors of bhang within Nairobi County.

Haggai Anekea alias Bai, Mario Amukhula, Nekesa Shimunzali and Doreen (a Burundian national) were found with approximately 200 bales of bhang that had been repacked and police believed were ready for distribution.

In Mombasa, police arrested Killian Ndunda Makuto in the Junda area who was found with four kilograms of heroin.

They say that he is part of a cartel that has been selling the drug to students.

Sources at the DCI say that the officers from the Anti-Narcotics Unit (ANU) are motivated in their investigations with the convictions of two traffickers upping their mood.

Maimuna Jumanne Amir was recently sentenced to 45 years in prison and to pay a Sh48 million fine for drug trafficking.

Amir was arrested at the Moi International Airport in Mombasa with 5.4 kilograms of heroin valued at Sh16.2 million that was concealed in a travelling bag.

She had jetted into the country from South Africa through Addis Ababa.

Another case is Schola Namuyu Imbiti who was sentenced to 15 years by the JKIA Law Courts for trafficking narcotics.

She was arrested in 2019 after she was found in possession of cocaine worth Sh2 million.

The DCI also arrested two men they believe are part of a gang that robbed and raped three women in Tigoni, Kiambu County on December 31, 2023.

Paul Muchai Kariuki and Samuel Kamau Kachumi were both arrested in Tigoni.

The four men allegedly broke into the home located in Mahinga village armed with crude weapons.

They are said to have stabbed the farmhand in the back and his hand, and held the three women hostages before committing the act.

They took away several household items and forced one of the women to drive them using the family car to Muguga in Kikuyu Sub County.