Police on the spot over five bodies found in forest with bullet wounds

Families of five people found dead in a Nyeri forest two days ago Friday claimed that police officers had picked them up the previous night.

The families said the four men and a woman were arrested on Wednesday night, a claim the law enforcers denied, stating that all those arrested that day were booked at various police stations.

The five were last seen alive watching football at a local pub. They were allegedly arrested on their way home by a group of men after the game.

They were identified as Mr Yusuf Mwangi Mohamed and Mr Mohamed Kaburu, both 19, Mr Kevin Kihuru Wangui, a miraa hawker at Ruring’u shopping centre, and a Mr King’ori.

The woman’s identity is yet to be established but the men’s neighbours said she was Mr King’ori’s girlfriend, who used to work at a local pub.

Their bodies were found in Tagwa Forest, Kieni East District, on Thursday by a herdsman.

The men lay faces down with bullet wounds in the heads, while the woman was hanging from a tree.

Mr Mwangi’s brother, Salim Mohammed Karanja, admitted that the victim had run-ins with the police on several occasions and that he had been accused of being a member of the outlawed Mungiki sect.

“My brother did not have a very clean record. But I had convinced him to abandon his ways,” he said.

His father, Mr Mohammed Karanja Salim, said he was informed that his son and four friends had been arrested at a pub on Wednesday night.

When he went to Nyeri Central Police Station the following day, he did not find their names in the Occurrence Book.

Nyeri Central police boss Adiel Nyange said none of the victims were arrested as their names were not in the records.