A new criminal gang calling itself ‘DNA’ is giving Eldoret residents sleepless nights in a wave of violent robberies and muggings.
A new criminal gang calling itself ‘DNA’ is giving Eldoret residents sleepless nights in a wave of violent robberies and muggings.
The gang has recruited juveniles and young people, mostly school dropouts.
Gang members are said to be so daring that some attack their targets in broad daylight, while armed with crude weapons.
Residents of Huruma, Kahoya, Kipkaren, and Shauri Estates have been having sleepless nights for the past two months because of the activities of the new criminal outfit.
Police say the gang leader has been recruiting vulnerable young and energetic youths, and minors from informal settlements such as Langas Kingongo, Kidiwa, and Mwenderi as members, which are known havens for dreaded gang members.
Following an uproar from locals, police moved in swiftly arresting four suspects in a crackdown, among them two juveniles aged 16 and 17 years, who are currently being held in custody at the Eldoret Central Police Station.
They were arrested in the Kingongo informal settlement.
A 25-year-old woman suspected to have been hosting the gang's ring leader at a rental house in Huruma Estate is also among the suspects in custody.
The fourth suspect aged 30, is believed to be the gang leader and was arrested in the crime-prone Langas informal settlement area, where he had gone into hiding after escaping a police dragnet at his lover’s house in Huruma Estate.
Turbo sub-county Criminal Investigation Officer, Richard Okeri, regretted that several informal settlement areas that were once peaceful had been turned into a no-go zone at night due to the criminal activities perpetrated by the criminal gang christened.
He said several public and private schools in the affected areas have been forced to release their learners early for their safety as a result of the activities of the criminal gangs.
“We are holding the suspects, among them the two juveniles in police custody to help us with information about this new criminal outfit which draws its membership mostly from school dropouts,” Mr Okeri said.
He said detectives are carrying out a crackdown in all informal settlement areas in Eldoret, believed to be havens for gang members who are usually armed with crude weapons.
“We will not allow members of the gang who include minors to wreak havoc in various estates of Eldoret City,” warned Mr Okeri.
Locals say Huruma Estate in Turbo Sub County and Kahoya Estate have become havens for organized gangs who pose as matatu attendants at Nyathiru bus terminus and the Mwenderi area.
You will spot them playing cards and street soccer, but behind these social activities are the criminal gangs engaging in violent robberies, muggings, and drug and illicit alcohol business.
“In Kahoya and Huruma, there’s a real problem of robberies. Many of the criminals are minors. We have had a series of cases where young boys and girls are robbing residents while armed with crude weapons,” said an elder from the area.
But locals say they fear reporting the gang members to police, with some even striking in broad daylight.
“We know them; they even attack us in broad daylight. On several occasions, they have warned us against reporting them,” a local grocer in the Mwenderi area in Huruma Estate told Nation.Africa, but asked for anonymity for security reasons.
Another vegetable vendor in the same area said police from local police stations visit the crime areas and hardly arrest suspects, a trend that has picked up steadily over the past two years.
“Four years ago we experienced relative security and minimal cases of criminal; activities in this area due to persistent arrest and prosecution of youths who engaged in criminal activities. But currently, police seem to have relaxed hence surging cases of criminal activities,” said the mama mboga.
