Kasarani OCPD Peter Mwanzo has clarified that the two men who were attacked by residents and subsequently arrested in Zimmerman on June 26 for an alleged kidnapping incident were not criminals.
Mwanzo made the statement after a video showing irate members of the public damaging a vehicle allegedly belonging to the two went viral on social media. According to earlier reports, the two were allegedly spotted in the company of a 2-year-old kid who was in tears, prompting the residents to react.
“The two went to visit a relative at Zimmerman. After arriving, they took their relative’s child to the shop, but at some point, the kid started crying prompting residents to react,” Mwanzo told K24 Digital.
“Residents thought the two were child kidnappers, so they reacted to an extent of damaging their car which was parked near their relative’s rented house,” he added.
The incident comes amidst several reports of missing people (both kids and adults) in the country. The most recent case was that of businesswoman Hafsa Mohammed Lukman, who was rescued by police after she went missing from her Eastleigh shop.
So inhumane were the abductors that they decided to record an amateur video that captured how she was being tortured by the kidnappers.
One suspect linked to the kidnapping was arrested and is assisting police in the investigations.
In a statement, Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) boss George Kinoti said that the suspect was found at a “dingy room in Matopeni, within Kayole, where she had been forced into a water tank.”
In the amateur video which made rounds on social media, Hafsa appeared tortured and she begged her family to meet the demands of the kidnappers in order for her to earn her freedom.
However, a joint effort by detectives drawn from Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau and those from the Special Service Unit rescued the victim.
