The wife of Lamu businessman Mohamed Muse Mire has revealed horrifying details on how her husband was forcefully taken by a group of armed people from their home at night.
Muse, 46, a renowned trader who owns a general store named Garissa Shop within Witu town in Lamu West, was on Thursday, September 10, 2026, kidnapped from his house by unknown people. His family is yet to know his whereabouts.
In an interview with the Nation , his wife, Hamdiya Mahmoud, 32, said six heavily-armed and hooded gunmen stormed their house at around 8.30pm, just a few minutes after her husband had returned from an evening prayer at a nearby mosque.
After forcing entry, the abductors caused a chaotic, terrifying scene in the living room where the family was seated. At the time of the raid, Muse's two young daughters were also inside, having a private remedial tuition session with their teacher.
Ms Mahmoud explained that the gunmen aggressively ordered the shocked children and their teacher to lie face down under the table and chairs before descending on her husband with a thorough beating.
Others jumped to where Ms Mahmoud was, grabbed and forced her into a separate room, locked it from outside, completely isolating her from what was happening at the sitting room that particular time. Ms Mahmoud says from where she was, she could hear the screams from the husband.
At times, she tried peeping through an opening inside the locked room and could see the father of her children desperately resisting the attackers.
According to Ms Mahmoud, the situation resulted in a violent physical struggle inside the house that lasted for about 10 to 15 minutes before the gunmen eventually overpowered him.
They destroyed electronics inside the house, including the teacher's mobile phone and the children's tablets. They then took her husband's phone, whisked Muse and bundled him in a white Toyota Probox that had been parked some metres away from the house before vanishing with him to an unknown destination.
She believes that the group of armed individuals who showed up suddenly in their house were plainclothes security officers because of the way they burst into the room while carrying weapons out in the open. At the same time, they shouted commanding orders when forcing the children and their tutor to lie face down on the floor.
“They completely shattered our peaceful evening that day. Before anyone of us could scream, the armed intruders, without any explanation, went directly toward my husband. They pinned him down and aggressively beat him as the children and the teacher watched in horror from the floor, entirely helpless,” said Ms Mahmoud.
She added, “That evening, our home environment generally fell into a terrified silence that was punctured only by the muffled crying of my children pressing their faces against the rug as they helplessly watched their dad being roughed up.”
Four days down the line, the terrifying suddenness of the raid has now left Muse’s wife, the children, and the broader Witu community in shock as they demand answers and his safe, unconditional release. Since his abduction, Muse's phone has also been unreachable, switched off.
“As a family, we believe those who took my husband are security agencies. Only government agencies can have that confidence of abducting a person within his house while openly brandishing guns. If they were thugs, they would have asked for ransom by now. So, this is the government,” said Ms Mahmoud.
She further described her husband as a law-abiding citizen with no prior criminal record or history of legal infractions. Muse is a native of Masalani in the neighbouring Garissa County.
Ms Mahmoud insists all their seven children have been born and raised in Witu, Lamu. She stressed that for the past 16 years of marriage she has lived with Muse, her husband has never crossed paths with authorities.
“He isn’t talkative. His focus has always been running his businesses, including the shop, going to mosque to pray and heading home to his family. I can attest that he has never been in trouble with the law,” said Ms Mahmoud.
His brother, friend and business associate Abdulrahman Noor Maalim, said as a family, they have so far visited various police stations in Witu, Mokowe, Mpeketoni, Hindi and other places of Lamu and even outside the county, where they filed a missing person’s report in effort to look for Muse in vain.
Mr Noor questioned why the security agencies are silent about the matter while the whereabouts of Muse remain unknown.
“Our brother is innocent. If they suspect him of anything, they should present him before court to face any preferred charges rather than abducting him and leaving us stranded and stressed like this. It’s heart-wrenching,” said Mr Noor.
On Sunday, Lamu County Police Commander, Shadrack Ruto confirmed to have received reports from the family about the missing businessman, Mohamed Muse Mire. Mr Ruto, however, denied any security involvement in the disappearance of the businessman, adding that their own investigations indicate that Muse is not in their custody.
“I categorically dismiss any suggestions that the businessman is in our custody. In Kenya, we arrest suspects, take them to court and process them through the criminal justice system. We’re a rule of law country and our law enforcement pursue democratic policing ideals,” said Mr Ruto.
The County Police Commander stressed that they had checked all the police stations across Lamu and established that the businessman was not in their custody.
"That means those who took him might be another secret gang we aren’t aware of but we’re investigating. In Lamu, we’ve the Kenya Police, Administration Police (AP) and DCI officers. All these work in a coordinated approach within and outside Lamu. We don’t have any reports about any coordinated arrest involving the Witu businessman,” said Mr Ruto.
This is not the first time incidents of abduction of citizens in Lamu are conducted by the alleged ‘unknown’ gunmen.
On September 12, 2025, fish dealer and coxswain Mohamed Obo,41, was abducted by unknown people while chewing miraa outside his house in Kiunga town at around 8.30pm. He was later released in April this year as confirmed by family members.
In October 2025, fisherman Musa Ahmed Daudi,44, was also abducted by unknown armed men in Kiunga Town, never to be found to date.
The same year on November 9, Ismail Barow Nunow, 47, a businessman, was also forcibly taken by armed and hooded men within Kiunga town at around 8.30pm. On Saturday, Nunow’s wife Luul Suleiman Yusuf confirmed that her husband was traced and brought back home safely in April this year, though she didn’t disclose much details how he was discovered.
Other Lamu families still agonizing about their missing kinsmen include that of Ahmed Athman Bileli who went missing since 2018 as well as that of Hassan Ali, all from Kiunga on the Kenya-Somalia border.
In Witu, Lamu West, the family of Mohamed Ali,32, has been left in the dark since his mysterious disappearance in June 2018.
