- Police said the six, all men, were arrested within Ngelani area, Athi River East Subcounty, following reported unrest.
- Police said the arrested persons who all suspects who had been on the run before they were nabbed.
Image: The Star
Police in Athi River, Machakos County on Friday arrested six suspects and three motorcycles seized in quarries in Mavoko.
Police said the six, all men, were arrested within Ngelani area, Athi River East Subcounty, following reported unrest.
Police said the arrested persons who all suspects who had been on the run before they were nabbed.
“The same was effected today 30/08/2024 due to state of unrest within Ngelani quarries. Police officers from Mavoko SNP in conjunction with CIPU officers conducted the arrests within the quarries,” a police report seen by the Star read in part.
They were arrested for various offences which include threatening to kill and creating disturbance.
Police said the motorcycles were intercepted and impounded for allegedly ferrying goons.
“All the motorcycles were impounded at the same police station. The suspects to appear before court on Monday, September 2, 2024,” the police report stated.
The arrests occurred months after extortion and gang fights in the quarries alarmed security chiefs.
Some senior police officers within Machakos County had raised concerns about what they termed as high level of impunity and insecurity in Katani and Ngelani quarries located within Mavoko Subcounty.
They said cartels operating in the quarries were ferrying goons to fight their opponents who also irk a living from the ‘no man’s’ land.
Locals and residents had also raised complaints on insecurity in the area stating they were living in fear due to rampant attacks by goons they claimed were mostly ferried from Nairobi.
Eastern regional police commander Joseph Ole Napeiyan then warned area police chiefs to crack the whip on the cartels and suspected goons by effecting necessary arrests and present suspects in court in line with available provisions of the Kenyan law.
Napeiyan raised concerns about the increased number of sudden deaths reported from the area in police local police stations.
He told his officers to conduct thorough investigations on causes of the then rampant ‘sudden’ deaths and stop them with immediate effect.