Nairobi — SECURITY agencies have developed new strategies to fight the resurgence of kidnapping and carjacking cases, the Star has established.

While police say they are in control and have managed to break up many kidnap syndicates especially in Nairobi, security sector players insist carjacking and kidnap incidents have increased over the past six months.

Sources within security circles indicate the situation is so grave that the National Security Intelligence Service has in the past week compiled a report with proposals on how to fight the menace. The report is expected to be forwarded to President Kibaki and the National Security Council which he chairs for appropriate action.

While recent statistics on kidnappings and carjackings were not available, police sources said they were getting between three and five kidnapping reports every week. They said about 30 people have been kidnapped in Nairobi this year.

Security sources said the number could be higher as some of the victims and their families do not report the incidents for fear of reprisals by the gangs.

The security sources said the crime had spread from low middle-income estates which were worst affected in the last couple of years and the syndicates were now targeting the middle income and wealthy families.

Members of the Hindu Council expressed concern and said the community was increasingly being targeted because they were considered a wealthy minority.

They cited the March 26 carjacking and subsequent murder of a woman motorist from South C whose body was dumped in Mathare Slums.

A man within Rosslyn Estate in Gigiri paid a Sh9 million ransom to secure his daughter's freedom from kidnappers a few weeks back.

In Gachie, the family of a 15-year-old student is still asking the police for help in tracing his whereabouts after he was kidnapped on March 21. The family of David Njenga, a Form Two student at Leopold Centre, disclosed yesterday that the gang had not yet made any ransom demands. They still hoped that the boy was alive.

In late February, police shot and killed two people who kidnapped a Canadian national and were holding him hostage in a house in Gatundu.

The kidnappers were demanding Sh10 million ransom to release the foreigner who was abducted as he was visiting relatives in Gigiri.

The family of six-year-old Emmanuel Aguer are still trying to overcome the trauma of his kidnap and murder late last year. The family had reported the kidnap to the police who persuaded them not to pay the Sh5,000 ransom demanded by his abductors. When the family failed to pay, the boy was murdered and his body stashed in a carton which was dumped by the side of a road in Komarock Estate.

Police and other security sources said the kidnap gangs had now become more daring and had raised their ransom demands.

They said that depending on the economic status of victim, the kidnappers were now demanding between Sh50,000 and Sh100 million.

City-based security expert Werunga Simiyu said the crimes were being fuelled by police inability to come up with clear strategies to tackle the gangs.

He cited also the haste with which relatives of kidnap victims were paying the ransom.

"We have a problem where people, instead of going through traumatising moments, decide to pay the ransom demanded. All the government has to do is invest in training of special crimes police officers to deal with the menace," Werunga said.

Other sources said the increase in kidnapping incidents was due to more gangs coming into existence to tap into what is becoming a lucrative 'business." The Kenya Alliance of Resident Associations executive director Stephen Mutoro said members had been reporting more incidents of carjackings and attempted and actual kidnaps.

"It is a worrying trend. We are encouraging our members to report all incidents to the police," he said and urged the public to help the police by making the reports.

Mutoro said that while the association last year handled between 50 and 60 crime reports from its members, they had by last month recorded 500 incidents of carjacking, attempted kidnaps and other crimes.

City police boss Anthony Kibuchi said the police had managed to break up several kidnap rings with the assistance of the public who reported the crimes on time.

"The sooner we get information of a crime the sooner we are able to track-down the perpetrators," said Kibuchi.

Kibuchi conceded carjackings were still going on despite measures taken to bring down the crime. He said his department had established a special team of officers drawn from the Special Crime Prevention Unit to deal with the kidnappings and carjackings.

Kibuchi said the team was responsible for the rescue of two women abducted from Embakasi last month whose kidnappers were demanding Sh2 million from their families.