Police arrest 20 suspected illegal immigrants in Meru
Deputy County Commissioners and their assistants at a meeting to review the Meru County Rapid Results Initiative (RRI). Meru County Commissioner Mwangi Chege said police have arrested 20 foreigners suspected to be in the country illegally and recovered seven firearms in the last 50 days since the RRI began. PHOTO/KENNEDY KIMANTHI
What you need to know:
- 18 of the suspects are of Ethiopian origin while two are Nigerians.
- The operation would be extended to all towns in the county.
- Tigania and Igembe regions of the county have been the most hit by cattle rustling.
Police in Meru have arrested 20 suspected illegal immigrants and recovered seven firearms in the on-going security operation in the country.
According to Meru County Commissioner Mwangi Chege, 18 of the suspects are of Ethiopian origin while two are Nigerians.
Mr Chege said some of the suspects and the firearms were nabbed before the operation was launched countrywide.
“Ten of the suspects were arrested in Buuri Sub-County while others were arrested in North Imenti, Igembe South and Imenti Central,” he said.
He was speaking at a press conference during the Meru County review of 50-days of the government’s Rapid Results Initiative (RRI).
Mr Chege noted that security was a prerequisite for the development of any county and asked his officers from the deputy county commissioners to the assistant chiefs to remain vigilant.
“I ask everyone residing in Meru who is apprehensive of the security operation to embrace it as a strategy to boost his or her own security,” he said.
He added that the operation would be extended to all towns in the county.
The public, he said, should furnish the security agencies with information that will help combat increased insecurity.
CATTLE RUSTLING
On cattle rustling, Mr Chege admitted that there were many internal challenges facing the security agencies but noted they are taking sufficient measures to curb the vice.
According to figures released during the meeting, 265 animals have been stolen over the 50-day period and another 163 recovered.
The armed cattle rustlers were mostly drawn from the neighbouring Samburu community.
The Tigania and Igembe regions of the county have been the most hit by the vice, with a section of the Meru County Assembly members claiming that the provincial administration has been doing little to stem the vice.
“With this initiative, we will also be dealing with the poaching menace, drug and substance use as well as disaster management.
We are enlisting the support of the members of the public to make this initiative a success,” he said.
Nearly 4,000 people have been arrested since the government launched the anti-terrorism operation in Nairobi’s Eastleigh estate last week.
However, the operation has been greeted with controversy after a section of Muslim leaders questioned the manner in which the police are carrying out the raids.
Eleven terrorist attacks have killed and injured many Kenyans since the beginning of the year.
