Dominic Wabala
22 June 2008
Nairobi — Police are investigating a group of people they suspect to be a new deadly criminal gang in Nairobi's Eastlands area.
Detectives say the Siafu (safari ants) members are drawn from outlawed groups such as Mungiki, Taliban and Kamjesh, which have been engaged in bloody battles for the control of some slums.
The members are said to have named their group Siafu, after the small industrious insects known to work as a team and inflict painful stings.
Kasarani police division commandant Jasper Ombati said on Saturday that police suspect that four people arrested in February have links with the gang.
"We have information that some of the criminals we have arrested might be members of a new group that we're told has emerged," he said.
"We are studying the crime trends. We arrested four people in connection with the murder of a foundry worker and suspect that they might be linked to the gang."
Police believe the gang operates at Baba Dogo, Ngomongo, Riverside, Laundry, Lucky Summer, Kariadudu/Kasabuni and Korogocho.
On May 23, three suspected gangsters armed with machetes reportedly tried to rape a woman, but she was rescued by a man, whom they then robbed.
Police claim also that on May 12, a gang demanded Sh30,000 each of four residents of Riverside and smashed their windows, accusing them of reporting their activities to police.
The same day, they reportedly took away a Sh60,000 plastic water tank at Lucky Summer and cut it into pieces, accusing the owner of being "uncooperative".
On April 19, police add, the suspected leader of a gang identified only as "Chairman", was shot dead by officers at Kariadudu during a foiled robbery. A toy pistol was said to have been found on him.
Unlike the Mungiki and the Taliban, whose memberships are drawn from particular ethnic communities, police say the Siafu recruits from different tribes, but is "equally brutal and very dangerous".
But like the Mungiki, the gang has been extorting a protection fee and other charges from the local residents and businesses. Those who resist are punished severely.
Police link the gang to murders, muggings, robberies, extortions and the burgling of factories and godowns, siphoning of fuel from tankers, theft of telephone and power cables and extortion.
The stolen goods are disposed of at the Kariobangi light industries.
Residents and businesses in areas controlled by the Siafu, including traders, have to pay a the protection fee.
Operators of vehicles that transport goods and passengers to the slums are not spared.
Operators of trucks delivering goods to the areas pay as much as Sh200 for a vehicle to be allowed to offload them.
Police accuse the gang of also being behind a recent demonstration by Baba Dogo residents to demand the release a man they claimed was in police custody.
The man had disappeared two weeks earlier.
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