[allAfrica.com] 92 More Arrested Om 'Mungiki' Crackdown The Nation (Nairobi) NEWS January 11, 2003 Posted to the web January 10, 2003 Nairobi Shrines destroyed and books seized as police step up the hunt The crackdown on Mungiki thugs intensified yesterday with police making 92 more arrests during raids in Central, Rift Valley and Nairobi provinces. They add to the 50 people already charged in court or detained for questioning following a brutal series of murders blamed on sect members. Yesterday's arrests took place in Nakuru, Nyandarua, Laikipia and Nyeri districts as well as in Nairobi, where police announced they had arrested 12 youths and smashed an oathing shrine at a hideout used by the outlaws. Police also impounded an assortment of their religious paraphernalia and weapons. The 12 youths who police paraded yesterday - all from Kiharu location in Murang'a - were suspected to have been involved in the recent Kiambu and Murang'a killings, police said. The suspects, aged between 15 and 20, were fished out of two rooms in the basement of a building still under construction at Mlango Kubwa in Nairobi. The room was pasted with posters of Presidential loser Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, Kanu's civic candidate Shamsherali Lalani (of Highridge-Karura-Muthaiga ward) and other election material. Police also confiscated a picture torn from Taifa Leo which showed Mungiki suspects during the vicious attack at Karia, Kiambu, in which at least two people were killed. The picture, pasted prominently in the room, featured some of the suspects picked up by the police on Thursday during the 7.30pm raid. Kasarani division police boss, Mr Simon Kipkeu, who had led the Thursday night operation, said his officers went into the area following a tip-off. He said, "We have intensified patrols in order to stop their activities: we appeal to the public to help us wipe out Mungiki." There was drama when police returned to the area yesterday and were confronted by an angry mob of residents who demanded that police release the suspects. At one time, police contemplated using teargas to disperse the protesters who marched to Pangani police station to press their demands. The protesters - the majority of them women - claimed police had arrested innocent people who belonged to a local vigilante group. Police said a corrugated iron structure a stone's throw from the hideout was used for oathing and worship by Mungiki members. Inside the structure, about 20ft by 40ft, were a chain, a knife, a cooking stick, four basins, rollers, some reeds and spices. Among items seized from the basement rooms were two Somali swords, a calabash, a club, three snuff containers and medicinal liquids. Also seized were a publication entitled Urathi wa Bururi wa Kenya na Athamaki Aguo kuma Muthungu, Kenyatta, Moi, Jehu (kana Rihiu rwa Njora) (Prophesy for Kenya and its leaders from the colonialists, Kenyatta, Moi, the sword) and a Kiswahili publication Chakula cha Kiroho (Food for the Spirit). The book, produced and edited by a Mr Joseph Maina Gakuo of "End of Time Prophets of Kenya" contains Mungiki teachings and Bible quotations. Police chief Mr Kipkeu was flanked by CID officer Patrick Kiswii and the Pangani deputy officer commanding station Maurice Mulama. Mr Kipkeu said eight of the suspects came to Nairobi just before the elections and he criticised the group for taking over security of the area. The group charges Sh50 for each household every month. Cases of violence involving alleged Mungiki members increased recently with at least 23 people killed during two raids in Nakuru this week. Two other people were killed in Murang'a district and last month, two people died and seven houses were burnt when a Mungiki mob rampaged through Karia village in Githunguri, Kiambu. Farm animals were also slaughtered and shops raided. Nakuru police arrested 52 suspected Mungiki members to add to the 24 already being held. They will be taken to court on Monday and charged mostly with murder, said divisional police commander Mr Joel Lang'at. Police were also studying statements recorded by the suspects before deciding what charges to prefer against the others, he said. Fifteen people had been arrested on Thursday night at Langa Langa, Free Area and Nyamarutu within the town and in Bahati and Subukia areas. On the same day nine others were jointly charged with six counts of murder together with the former Nakuru Town MP Mr David Manyara. Police were sent to Nyandarua yesterday to collect six other Mungiki members suspected to have fled from Nakuru after the attacks. One of them had some injuries which police believe he suffered during the fighting, Mr Lang'at said. All the town's estates would continue to be patrolled until all sect members were flushed out, he added. Matatu (commuter taxi) touts would be given uniforms for ease of identification, and operators had been asked to give police the names of all their drivers and touts so Mungiki members and other idlers could be tracked down, Mr Lang'at said. Operators were expected to meet the District Security Committee in a week's time. At Molo, also in the Rift Valley Province, 10 people were charged yesterday with an unlawful assembly and intent to cause a breach of the peace. The suspects, who were unrepresented, appeared before the Molo Senior Resident Magistrate Mr Richard Kirui, who rejected their plea for bail after being told tension was still high in Nakuru and Elburgon. Further instructions will be issued by the court next Friday and the case was listed for hearing on February 12. In Eastern Province, police chief Mr Ezekeil Waitage ordered all his commanders to be on the look-out for any Mungiki members. Speaking from his office on the outskirts of Embu Town, he said no Mungiki activities had been reported, but appealed to the public to help the police by providing any information that could lead to arrests. Mr Waitage, a deputy commissioner of police, said there was no cause for alarm and that there would be no permanent police roadblocks. In Nyeri in Central Procince, a matatu driver was yesterday charged with falsely claiming at Karatina Market he had been attacked by Mungiki thugs, leading to the arrest of a group of mourners after police laid an ambush at Gatitu shopping centre. Mr John Wachira Mutugi denied the charge and was released on a Sh 20,000 bond and a surety of the same amount. The hearing was set for January 22. Fifteen people suspected to belong to the banned sect being held at Karatina police station, were yesterday visited by the Nyeri district security team. They were arrested at various estates in Karatina Town on Wednesday evening when what was said to be Satanic literature and 200 sachets of bhang were seized. District Commissioner David Jakati said yesterday the government had declared war on Mungiki and asked the public for any information they might have about the organisation. The 15 suspects would be taken to court when investigations were complete, he said. Police in Nyandarua and Laikipia yesterday arrested 28 suspected Mungiki members, with some being seized at Nyonjoro village in Ndaragwa and others, said to have been taking part in a ritual, at Losogwa. The rest were rounded up in Nyahururu Town and at Karandi. They will be charged with being members of an illegal society. Police recovered Mungiki literature, identity cards, badges bearing the OHMS initials and newspaper cuttings. Rift Valley Provincial Commissione Peter Raburu, who visited Karandi on Wednesday, ordered police to destroy a Mungiki shrine in the area. Reported by Watoro Kamau, Waweru Mugo, Kennedy Masibo, James Kariuki, Simon Siele, Stephen Munyiri, Philip Mwaniki and Cyrus Kinyungu and KNA   =============================================================================   Copyright © 2002 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). =============================================================================