A recent survey published in Forbes reveals a striking shift: younger people, especially Gen Z, are increasingly using TikTok as their go-to search engine, gradually abandoning traditional platforms like Google. When it comes to health information, this trend is particularly pronounced.
With the fast-growing use of social media platforms among the youth, organised criminal gangs have found a way to easily hit their target and lure victims into their traps, using TikTok and Facebook.
Garissa town has its fair share of dreaded gangs in Kayole Boys and Squad Chafu, with the members adopting evolving modus operandi in the social media transformation.
And they are using one of the most irresistible emotions – love.
When Ahmed Yakub received a friend request on TikTok from a woman who said she was in love with him, he quickly clicked “accept”, thinking he had finally found the love of his life.
What the 22-year-old never imagined was that the friendship was a ploy to lure him into the trap of a gang.
He narrated his ordeal to Nation.Africa while on a hospital bed at a private health facility in Garissa town.
After the first click, Fahima and Yukub became love birds instantly, with Yakub pulling all tricks in the love book, unleashing irresistible lyrical vibes.
According to Yakub, they quickly exchanged phone numbers, and their conversation moved from chatting on the popular social media platform to phone calls.
“It somehow surprised me how a girl I had met on TikTok started putting pressure on me for a day out, but I was blinded by love…besides, she was willing to incur the cost of our outing,” Yakub said.
On April 27, he travelled for a football match in Bura, Tana River County, only to return to Garissa town late in the night.
Fahima, who was aware of his trip, was in constant communication and asked him for an evening meeting immediately after he returned from Bura.
“We arrived back in Garissa town at about 10pm. While at a hotel where the team was to spend the night, Fahima called me and insisted that we have to meet,” Yakub said.
His attempt to convince his newfound lover to go to the hotel where he was to spend the night failed since she insisted that she did not want to be seen by anybody.
Quickly, Yakub jumped onto a bodaboda and rushed to the meeting point, where he found Fahima in a tuk-tuk. But before they exchanged greetings, Yakub was ambushed by a man who wrestled him to the ground.
“The tuk-tuk took off as I was being pinned to the ground. A Probox vehicle approached, five people came out and bundled me in,” he said.
He identified one young man he had fought back in January 2022 during a football match in Garissa town. That was when it dawned on him that it was a revenge mission.
He says he had an altercation with the man when their teams played in 2022.
“He was defending for a team we played against, and we clashed. We had a fight and I injured his jaw then,” he said.
The matter ended up in the clan elders’ court, commonly known as Maslah and Yakub, was fined Sh300,000 for injuring him.
“My family paid the money, we forgave each other, and moved on. I didn’t know that he had been seeking revenge despite having the matter solved by our clan elders,” Yakub said.
Also Read: Why is TikTok in the hot seat?
Narrating his ordeal in the hands of the gang, Yakub said he was taken to an isolated place where he was assaulted. They undressed, beat him up, and inflicted cuts on his body with pangas. All along, there was another man who was filming the action, he said.
The criminals then blindfolded Yakub and tied his hands before dumping him on the streets of the town at about midnight.
“I struggled in pain to call for help, and luckily, a bodaboda rider came by and he agreed to take me to the hospital,” he said.
Videos of Yakub being assaulted have been doing rounds in several WhatsApp groups and Facebook pages in the entire North Eastern Region.
Mr Yakub Salat Nur, the victim’s father, protested and called on security agencies to ensure justice for his son.
“I paid Sh300,000 to one of the people who assaulted my son. I thought their differences had been solved, but I am shocked to witness the kind of violence unleashed on my son,” he said.
Mr Nur vowed to have the law take its course despite being pressured to engage in settlement of the matter through Maslah.
“I have been receiving phone calls from some elders to drop this matter and have it resolved out of court, but I am not ready because there are signs of something sinister. How can someone pretend to have solved a matter only to turn around and attack after that long?” he posed.
It has since emerged that Fahima was hired to lure Yakub.
“We have credible information that the woman was paid Sh160,000 to lure Yukub into this trap. We have reported the matter to the police, and we hope justice will be done,” Mr Nur said.
Garissa Township Sub County Police Commander Samuel Boit said two suspects had been arrested and later released on police bonds of Sh20,000 each.
“We managed to arrest the woman and a retired senior police officer, and there is also another male suspect we are looking for,” Mr Boit said, adding that the police are also investigating any link between the suspects and the two gangs that exist in Garissa town.
The police boss admitted that he was under pressure from the community to have the matter solved through Maslah, saying that was the reason it was difficult to arraign the suspects in a court of law.
“Our officers have continued with the probe, and we shall make a final decision once we conclude investigations,” he said, explaining why the suspects are yet to be charged after they were arrested on April 28, 2025.
“Some witnesses have been reluctant to record statements with the police, but we will charge these two with robbery with violence and abduction,” the sub county police boss added.
He revealed that CCTV cameras helped police in identifying the tuk-tuk that was used by the woman when she lured Yakub into the trap.
“We have established that the main suspect has been hunting Yakub for a long time and upon realizing that he could not trap him, he struck a deal with this woman,” Mr Boit said.
The failure by Fahima to report the alleged abduction of his “boyfriend” to the police when she took off from the scene in a tuk-tuk made police believe that she played a role in having Yakub assaulted, the police said.
"This incident is isolated, but we want to establish if it is linked to any gang of criminals in the town,” Mr Boit said.
