Mombasa,KENYA:Police in Likoni,Mombasa are holding 12 suspected criminals of a sect known as “Marcus’ who are suspected to have butchered a bodaboda rider in Mtongwe on Thursday.
The suspects had earlier clashed with bodaboda riders in the area after the bodaboda riders tried to arrest one of their members who had tried to rob a school child.
According to Likoni police Chief Benjamin Rotich, one of the suspects had robbed a school child off his bag but the boda boda riders intervened and tried to arrest the suspect.
He escaped only to return with a contingent of armed members.
“We have 12 in custody and we are interrogating them, we want to find who they are, we are still gathering evidence,’’ said the police boss.
Police are yet to establish the emergence of the new criminal gang and its agenda.
“This is a criminal gang in the sub-county,what we know so far is that they were armed with crude weapons, we are still grilling those we arrested,”said the police boss
All the seniors at Likoni police station led the operation that lead to the arrest of the suspects.
Officers from Inuka,Likoni and the deputy county commissioner in Vijiweni area were mobilized to disperse the bodaboda riders who engaged in fierce fighting with the gang members.
Transport and businesses in the Mtongwe area were paralyzed for over two hours as police engage them.
Police operations recently have registered successes with a number of criminal elements of Watalia and Wajuku wa bibi criminal gangs being apprehended and charged
Tension was still high in the areas of KD,Vijiweni and Soko Mjinga in Mtongwe.
Dozens of police officers were seen patrolling the area even after the bodaboda riders and the suspected criminal gang had been dispersed