SPECIAL REPORT: DCI arrested 44 in November alone as police killings go down.

By Missing Voices Reporter

Police officers arrested have arrested at least 44 people suspected of committing various crimes within the country, this month alone.

In a plausible shift from their norm, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on their social media pages noted that some of those in custody are suspects of robbery with violence.

Missing Voices in November have recorded five cases of police killings from 12 last month. April saw the lowest number of police killings at three, while January had the highest cases at 28.

Most of the posts by the DCI before the August general elections, often in a graphical narration, ‘celebrated’ cops’ prowess in killing suspects, in disregard of the Rule of Law.

In the recent past however, the focus of the ornate posts has been of arrests of criminals and the plan to arraign and charge them in court.

DCI Director Amin Mohammed affirmed that “extra-judicial killings are going to be a thing of the past and the officers will only use their firearms where it is absolutely necessary.

“The president made it very clear to all the police commandants during a meeting that the new era will not see any killings unless in justified conditions in the law,” said Amin.

The DCI boss explained the need for building trust in the police in order to avoid ‘false perceptions’ of the police by members of the public.

Missing Voices Director Hussein Khalid told Missing Voices that the work of police in dealing with crime should first always be to arrest. Not kill and disappear suspects.

“We have taken note of Police statistics indicating the arrest of over 40 criminal suspects in the month of November alone” said Khalid during a phone interview.

In the last one week alone, police arrested 39 suspects, suspected of involvement in criminal activities in different parts of the country.

“While we congratulate the police for the arrest, we call on the police service to continue adhering to the rule of law and exercising restraint and reasonable force during their work,” said Khalid, “It is evident now that the killings we have seen in previous regimes could have been avoided and the Kenyans who lost their lives through police bullets could have been alive today.”

The director noted that this is a marked improvement and departure from the past where the same suspects would have been eliminated or disappeared.

He said Missing Voices will continue to hold police accountable and ensure impunity, extra judicial killings and enforced disappearances become a thing of the past.

According to DCI reports, three robbery suspects were arrested in Embu, 14 in Kakamega, three in Mombasa, six in Eldoret, four in Nairobi,

In Embu, “James Murathi alias Jimcarter, 39, Andrew Murathi alias Waaxy, 44, and Charles Mwaniki, alias Bush, 37, were arrested last evening and whisked to Siakago police station for further interrogation” said Amin through the DCI page on November 21.

Amin said, last month, the trio armed with machetes, axes and other crude weapons staged an attack at a homestead in Kanyuambora and made away with around Sh30,000 and 6 mobile phones in Ishiara area, Embu.

On the same date, DCI also reported that 14 suspected members of “Mbogi la Izraim territory” were arrested in Kakamega after a two-day operation by police. Amin said the gang has been linked to at least ten cases of murder and serious assaults between October and November 2022.

On November 22, DCI said police in Mombasa arrested three youths; Ali Sharrif Omar, 21, Zulfi Zulfikar, 20 and Ali Baribi Kiyema 18 who had robbed a tourist in Nyali.

“Three robbery suspects who accosted a man in Nyali, Mombasa County, stealing from him two mobile phones are cooling their heels in police custody,” said the DCI director.

In Eldoret, five days ago, 19 suspects were arrested for looting Eldomatt Cookery shop. Police said the looters took advantage of an operation by Uasin Gishu county government officials to weed out unlicensed vendors from the town’s central business district.

Amin said some suspects were captured leaving with looted merchandise and also vandalized a motor vehicle that was parked along a street.

On November 8, Amin said that three suspects; John Mutiso Makau whom police say is a mastermind of Nairobi city Mpesa robberies and his two accomplices Brian Wambua Mbindyo and Danson Musyoka Mulee had been arrested in Kayole. Police believe Makau is a returnee from the Alshabaab militia in Somalia.

On November 10, police from Akila police station in Lang’ata Nairobi, arrested a fifteen-year-old boy in connection with an armed robbery in Langata. He led the officers to a spot close to Wilson Airport, where they recovered a knife he used to stab victims before taking off with their valuables.

Amin said the boy, from Kibera’s Lindi area had been positively identified as the suspect behind an armed robbery, where one Abdullahi Mohamoud lost a phone (iPhone 13 pro max) on November 2, along the bypass close to South-C.

On November 9, in Langas township, at Kampi ya Nguruwe police arrested Hillary Kibet after a fierce gunfire with police. Police were pursuing him in connection to armed robberies in the area. Police allegedly recovered a Jericho pistol that Kibet was using had been stolen from a police officer on November 3. Kibet was arrested after police overpowered him.

Amin said the firearm has been used in at least three robbery incidents within Eldoret and its environs. He said detectives have since established that Kibet is the leader of a gang of criminals targeting motorists and motor vehicles within Eldoret town.