Nairobi — Detectives in Nyeri have traced threatening phone calls and text messages to convicts in King'ong'o Prison.

Several residents have received calls and text messages from anonymous people purporting to be Mungiki members warning that those who fail to send money through M-Pesa would be killed.

Scared residents have reported the threats to the police and sought protection while others have fallen prey to the con men and sent them thousands of shillings.

But with the use of technology, detectives have traced the numbers to King'ong'o Prison, where convicts serving their terms are said to collude with warders to fleece the public.

The officer in charge of the prison, Mr Stephen Kabiro, said he was not aware of such incidents, adding that only phone tracking experts would verify such claims.

"Most people will say that the prisons are responsible for fleecing Kenyans even without verifying.

Only those with technology for tracking such mobile phones can verify the allegations," he told the Daily Nation by telephone.

The warders are said to assist the prisoners in accessing the money from M-Pesa agents and getting a share.

Under investigation

A detective who did not wish to be named since he is not authorised to speak to the media said some of the warders were under investigation for colluding with inmates with criminal intent.

"We will catch up with them. Without them we would not have this kind of problem where a lot of public money is being lost," said the source.

Some of the warders allegedly give their handsets to the convicts, who insert their SIM cards and use them to engage in criminal activities.

A Nyeri resident who had been threatened with death unless she sent money through M-Pesa said detectives had assured her that the anonymous caller was behind bars at King'ong'o Prison.

But she is still afraid, having failed to figure out how criminals got access to her personal details, including her phone number.

Police are tracing a number that has since been inactive and believed to have been used in King'ong'o Prison, where a distressed woman sent Sh40,000 she borrowed from a bank after receiving a threatening call.