MP warns of gang training inside forest
What you need to know:
- Ganze MP Peter Shehe said the groups comprising youths in their early 20s have been conducting the illegal activities in Palakumi forest.
- The MP said the gang that raided Kinarani Administration Police post in Mwanamwinga, Kaloleni, last week, may have come from the forest.
Radical youths are training and taking oaths in a forest in Kilifi, an MP warned.
Ganze MP Peter Shehe said the groups comprising youths in their early 20s have been conducting the illegal activities in Palakumi forest.
The radicals, whom he blamed for insecurity in the region, have allegedly been in the forest for over two years.
“We have already told police about what is happening in Palakumi forest,” he said.
The MP said the gang that raided Kinarani Administration Police post in Mwanamwinga, Kaloleni, last week, may have come from the forest.
POLICE INACTION
“We have asked the police many times to raid that forest but the response has been slow,” he said. “That forest is very dangerous.”
The Palakumi forest covers Palakumi in Ganze, Makalengeni, Mayowe, Chivara and Migumo-Miri, bordering Kaloleni.
Youths from as far as Kauma, Kwa Maya Island and Jaribuni are hiding there, he added.
The MP suggested that access roads be built in the forest, arguing that criminals have made it a hide-out because it is not accessible.
But County Police Commander Joseph Nthenge dismissed the allegations by the MP.
“People should stop speculating. We went to the forest and did not find anybody there,’’ said Mr Nthenge.
County Commissioner Albert Kobia Tuesday said some arrests have been made but he declined to give details.
