30 suspects arrested in Mombasa as police step up war against criminal gangs

Police have arrested 30 suspected gang members in Mombasa in the past two weeks.

This is according to County Commissioner Maalim Mohamed, who also revealed that almost 40 criminal gangs are terrorising Mombasa residents.

Mr Maalim said yesterday that efforts had been intensified to arrest more suspects.

"In the last two weeks, we have arrested 21 members of Wakali Wao in Kisauni Sub-County, eight members of Wakali Kwanza in Mombasa Sub-County and one member of Watalia gang in Likoni," said Maalim.

Maalim said police were also investigating whether there is a political angle to the rising number of gangs. He expressed fear that the groups may be used to disrupt peace during political campaigns next year.

"We shall ensure that as we approach the elections all stakeholders abide by electoral rules and regulations to ensure that the exercise is peaceful,'' the administrator said.

Maalim said this during the close of the inaugural Human Rights and Security Project for Mombasa County which was organised by Haki Africa. The event was sponsored by Action Change Transform, a United Kingdom NGO.

"We have profiled them (gangs) and we know that there are close to 40 such gangs. We have done sector by sector deployment and there is 24-hour surveillance tracking their movements,'' he said.

The county security committee, he said, was forging a closer working relationship with all stakeholders to ensure an easy flow of intelligence to deal with gang violence in the county.

At the same function, National Police Service Commission (NPSC) Commissioner Mohamed Murshid said that Kenya had surpassed the United Nations police-to-citizen ratio of 1:400 and that there were enough officers to deal with criminal gangs and protect Kenyans.

"Upon the enactment of the new Constitution, the Government set out to carry out holistic and drastic changes to the police service and one of them was to ensure that there are enough if not sufficient police as per globally acceptable standards," he said.

Haki Africa Executive Director Hussein Khalid lauded government efforts to increase the number of police officers and equip them.

"We know that there are very good and dedicated police officers out there serving. But at the same time, there is a bunch of officers who are doing the opposite and are known to be involved in extra-judicial killings, torture and use of force. These should be expelled from the service," Mr Khalid said.

Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar urged Maalim and security officers not to relent in their crackdown against the gangsters.