Police have unearthed a lead to locations where some of the most wanted criminals hide after committing brutal attacks in Nairobi.
According to the police, slums in Nyeri County have become a safe haven for gangsters who have raped, stolen and at times killed in Nairobi and Kiambu environs.
The slums include Witemere, Kiawara, Ngangarithii,Kangemi and Majengo. It’s said that the thugs, some of whom are on police radar, opt to hide in these areas owing to their crowded nature and poor accessibility.
According to an officer privy to the information, most criminals on police watch are from Nyeri and have been inducted into crime by gangs in the slums.
“Most of the profiled criminals come from Nyeri. They operate in Nairobi and when they realize they are about to be caught or when police operations are heightened, they run to these slums to lie low,” a police officer who sought anonymity reported.
The Nyeri Central Divisional Police Commander Masai Makau stated that the criminals escape through the slums where they know police will not engage them in a gunfight to avoid injuring innocent people.
Makau said the criminals are fast in communication and have even resulted to hiring street children to act as spies and notify them whenever they spot an unfamiliar face within the slums.
“They are very fast in communicating and whenever an unfamiliar face is spotted they will vanish. They have lookouts everywhere,” said Mr Makau.
Nonetheless, police have vowed to pursue the criminals by all means despite being dangerously armed and using the slums as their hideouts.