The bunker that was found hidden beneath a bathroom in a Kabarnet home has now become a test of how far Baringo security agencies are prepared to go in the war against illicit alcohol.
And on Sunday, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen put the county’s top security officials on the spot, challenging them to hunt down a woman popularly known as Targok, whose compound was recently raided by police.
‘Tell Targok I was here’: CS Murkomen orders hunt for illicit brewer
He said he had received reports that illicit brews in Kabarnet town and its environs had become rife.
“I have been told that chiefs have tried to stem illicit brews, but I am told there are some that are very bad, like ethanol. I have heard that there is one woman called Targok, an illicit brewer and dealer who is normally arrested and released in court,” said CS Murkomen.
“Mwambieni Targok nilikuwa hapa ( Tell Targok I was here), and also inform her to abandon dealing in illegal alcohol that has killed people here. That alcohol should be finished today. And tell her she is not the first one. There were people who were stealing livestock while armed and we dealt with them. Tell her to inquire where those who were doing that business are, otherwise if she will not reform, she will join them soon. Tell her that this is the last warning," he added.
An aerial shot of the house of a suspected notorious illegal alcohol brewer and dealer commonly known as Targok where police and local administration conducted a raid on September 14,2026. Inset: A ladder descending into the bunker.
Photo credit: Florah Koech | Nation
“I want to ask the county police commander if it is him who went for training in Kiganjo or that Targok dealing in illegal brewing,” Mr Murkomen asked Baringo County Police Commander Macharia Wanjau during an interdenominational church service at Visa Oshwal Primary School in Kabarnet.
“Will she defeat you?” he posed, drawing applause from the congregation.
The CS directed Mr Wanjau and Baringo County Commissioner Wesley Koech to pursue the suspected dealer and ensure she faces the law.
“From today onwards, I think you know what to do. If it is difficult, tell me to deploy more officers for that purpose, and not that woman alone, but all others that are also dealing in the illicit business,” he said.
He warned dealers involved in transporting, storing and selling illicit brews and ethanol that their days are numbered.
“Any person who transports, stores or sells illicit brews and ethanol that kill people should end forthwith,” he said.
He also warned the county commissioner that his job is on the line if the security agencies fail to deal with the illicit alcohol trade. “It is up to you to choose between the infamous Targok and your job. Choose to save her or your job.”
The CS ordered a mop-up of areas notorious for illicit brewing, saying security agencies had the government’s full backing to dismantle the trade.
Targok came into sharp focus a week ago after a police raid on her compound in Kaprogonya village, on the outskirts of Kabarnet town.
From the road, the compound looked like an ordinary family home. But police encountered a roughly three-metre concrete perimeter wall, several gates, guard dogs and another fence around the main house before reaching the premises they had come to search, but the woman they were looking for was already gone.
Police believe she escaped through one of the several exits after noticing their vehicle approaching, leaving behind her mobile phone and an afternoon meal that was still being prepared.
A toilet serving as a bunker which was discovered following a police raid at the house of a suspected notorious brewer and dealer in Kaprogonya, on the outskirts of Kabarnet town in Baringo Central on September 14, 2026.
Photo credit: Florah Koech | Nation
The officers, however, had arrived with intelligence that the suspected dealer was hiding illicit alcohol and chemicals somewhere inside the compound.
After nearly two hours of searching, they discovered a concealed manhole beneath a section of tiled bathroom floor.
A ladder led into an underground chamber constructed like a septic tank.Inside were more than 40 containers, each holding 25 litres of a substance suspected to be ethanol, translating to more than 1,000 litres.
Some of the containers were labelled as wood preservatives while others were marked as battery acid.
Police said the substances would be taken to the Government Chemist for analysis to establish exactly what they contained.
The operation also led to the recovery of plastic bags containing processed liquor, which police said was allegedly sold through a small opening in one of the perimeter walls.
Baringo Central Deputy County Commissioner Joseph Ng’eny, who led the operation alongside Sub-County Police Commander Robert Odongo, said the compound appeared to have been deliberately designed to conceal the suspected business.
“At first look, you may think that this is a residential house, but when we entered, we realised it was an industry for brewing illegal liquor,” Mr Ng’eny said.
He said intelligence had helped police establish how the operation was allegedly conducted and where the liquor and chemicals were hidden.
“Without the intelligence, we could not have found the bunker because it had been concealed with tiles to look like a bathroom,” he said.
Police also recovered a sharp knife beneath a pillow in one of the rooms, where officers suspected someone guarding the consignment may have been sleeping.
Mr Ng’eny said police would investigate the source and transportation of the chemicals, including claims that some were brought from a neighbouring country through Eldoret.
Mr Murkomen also turned his attention to gender-based violence, warning chiefs and village elders against handling rape and defilement cases through informal ‘kangaroo courts’.
The CS said some perpetrators of sexual violence were people trusted by families, including relatives, teachers, pastors, fathers and other professionals.
“People who are expected to protect children are the ones taking advantage of them. We must say no to such,” he said.
He urged women facing violence not to remain silent, including when the perpetrator is a husband.
“We must protect our children from those sex pests,” noted Murkomen.
The CS also announced intensified operations against armed criminals in parts of the North Rift and northern Kenya following recent attacks in Isiolo, Samburu and Turkana.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen during the Mashujaa Day Champions Edition Breakfast Launch, attended by Governors, National Assembly Legislators, and Members of County Assembly from Nandi, Elgeyo Marakwet and Uasin Gishu counties, at EKA hotel in Eldoret City, Uasin Gishu County on September 20, 2026.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation
He recalled the killing of Catholic priest, Allois Cheruiyot Bett in Kerio Valley, and said the incident strengthened the government’s resolve to recover illegal firearms from banditry-prone areas.
He said the government had conducted intelligence-led operations in the Kerio Valley and claimed that more than 3,000 illegal firearms had been recovered since the operation began.
He said the government was now moving into the second phase, with security teams strengthened to target Kainuk, Isiolo and Samburu.
The operation will also cover remote parts of Tiaty Constituency, including Silale, as well as Mugie Ranch in Laikipia, Lomelo and Kainuk in Turkana.
“The medicine that will treat this perennial banditry menace once and for all is what we employed in Kerio Valley,” said Murkomen.
He indicated that the government wanted to end banditry and cattle theft before the country enters the 2027 election period.
“We want to make sure that when we will be going to electioneering period next year,we do not want any part of Kenya crying over the archaic banditry issues and stock theft. I want to promise Kenyans that we will end this menace and focus on development-oriented issues,” he said.
