As Lilian Chemayo went about her daily chores at her home in the Alkarim Makaburini slums on the outskirts of Kakamega town on March 5, she received some suspicious visitors.
The mean-looking men and women demanded to know why Ms Chemayo's daughter was not attending school.
But before she could answer, one of the men lunged at her from behind and quickly wrestled her to the ground.
“The man then told the women that this is your job and immediately the women started beating me. They also took away my mobile phones, money and other valuables,” the tearful Chemayo recounted.
The group then frog-marched Ms Chemayo to a makeshift cell in the neighbourhood, where they beat her some more before locking her up.
“My chest, back, all these places, including my hands were bruised. I was bleeding everywhere on my body, I can’t even tell where I was injured,” said Ms Chemayo, who has been bedridden since the attack.
She was released the next day after paying Sh300. But Ms Chemayo is not the only one to suffer the wrath of the gang, which masquerades as a vigilante group in the area.
Mildred Ayuma was also picked up from her doorstep on the evening of March 6, a Friday, and taken to the cells without any explanation.
“Upon reaching the cell, I found other prisoners being caned. They told us why we were being detained. They would just open the door, beat us up and disappear and then come back for another round of beatings for the entire three days I was held,” Ayuma said.
She described the holding cell as a poorly lit, hollow room with cracked walls and floor.
“There were two yellow jerry cans filled with water and a white dirty bucket that served as the toilet for the inmates,” she said.
The criminals opened the illegal detention centre and ran it for more than a week, terrorising and extorting residents.
Locals say the gangsters took advantage of the fact that the slums have their fair share of criminal activities – including drug trafficking, substance abuse, illicit brew trade, child abuse and others – to run the extortion ring, with those who refused to part with bribes suffering physical and emotional abuse.
The reign of terror did not end with Ayuma and Chemayo. Lilian Imali recalls being attacked while taking a bath on the afternoon of March 7.
“They stood outside the bathroom until I was done taking my bath. Then they ordered me to dress up quickly and accompany them. My pleas to be told what [I had done wrong] fell on deaf ears. The only response I got was that I would know shortly,” said Ms Imali.
It was around 4pm when Ms Imali was bundled into the cell. She found Ms Ayuma and seven other people, including men, in the room.
“At around midnight, the beatings began. They caned me until my thighs grew numb,” she said.
Ms Imali, who was also detained for three days, said that their abductors would feed them once a day in the evening.
“They gave us ugali and sukuma wiki but we were never allowed to step outside,” she explained.
Jacklyne Musa, whose house is adjacent to the makeshift cell, remembers asking some of the gang members why they were keeping people in the room and receiving a response that sent cold shivers down her spine.
“They warned me that if I continued questioning them I would end up inside the cell too and won’t come out alive. That day, there were five people being held inside the room,” she recalled.
A few days later, after witnessing three people being severely beaten and stripped naked, Ms Musa asked one of the gang members the same question.
“He told me that they were determined to rid the estate of alcoholics and drug peddlers,” said Ms Musa.
The area assistant chief, Isaac Ayumba, told Nation.Africa that he was tipped off about the illegal activity on Tuesday morning by an elder in charge of a neighbouring sub-location and immediately launched an investigation.
“I reached out to the village elder in my sub-location who confirmed that indeed such an illegality was happening. I informed the police immediately and we managed to arrest six suspects and free more than nine people who were being detained in the cell, some of whom were nursing severe injuries,” said the administrator.
“We are also still searching for more victims who might have been assaulted by these criminals and are too scared to speak out,” said Mr Ayumba.
Police recovered a number of weapons from the cell, including clubs, whips and ropes.
“We have also summoned the owner of the house where these atrocities were happening to come forward and shed some light on the matter,” said Mr Ayumba
Zamzam Swale said that residents suffered in silence at the hands of the suspects for fear of being victimised by the gang.
“These are vicious criminals who are well known in the area but no one dared to report them to the authorities lest they come for you,” she said.
Mr Collins Letting's illegal establishment was discovered on Saturday by senior police officers in the area, who couldn't immediately say how long the suspect had been operating the post.
Confirming the incident, Lurambi sub-county police commander Daniel Mukumbu said seven suspects had been arrested in connection with the crime.
He identified them as Emanuel Nyangweso, Koffi Anan, Derick Owino, Charles Kisamani, Metrine Olenyo, Brian Obonyo and Johnson Shirava.
“We shall be taking them to court today on the following charges: Unlawful confinement, assault and threatening to kill. One of the suspects – Johnson Sharava – was also found in possession of 20 rolls and 200 grammes of cannabis sativa,” he said.
