Puzzle of Murang'a cattle thieves using alcohol, anesthesia to steal animals

Livestock thieves in Murang'a first make them drunk with alcohol and after they black out, carry them off to slaughter them in the bushes or sell them to unscrupulous meat traders.

So vicious is this racket that it is recorded in the county's 2021/22 financial year security report as costing area breeders an average of Sh5 million per week.

Besides giving them alcohol, the targeted animals are also sprayed with surgical anaesthesia drugs that make them pass out for easier stealing, police say.

In most cases where rustling has occurred, empty bottles of highly potent alcoholic drinks have been found, said Hassan Aden Ali, a board member of the county community policing support initiative.

"In other incidents, we find wet pieces of clothes that upon analysis have turned out to be doused with anaesthesia," he said.

The most targeted animals in this scam are chickens, cows, goats, pigs and donkeys.

As a result, area security agents have banned transportation of animals and meat at night.

"It is the law that meat and animals be transported between 6am and 6pm. We will not entertain transportation during the night," said Gatanga County Police Commander Peter Muchemi.

He said his area is used as a transit zone by rustlers operating in neighbouring sub-counties as they transport the loot to the Kiambu and Nairobi black markets.

Murang'a South sub-county Police Commander Alexander Shikondi said the same meat business sanctions will apply.

"We want all meat transporters to be registered and adhere to public health guidelines on how it is packed and transported ... This habit of some characters packing meat in sacks and covering it with leaves will stop," he said.

All slaughterhouses will also be registered, he said.

"We want to be sure. When we get you transporting meat, you should be in a position to take us to the slaughterhouse the meat originated from," he said.

In Kandara, police boss Michael Mwaura said vigilance had been heightened following attacks by rustlers.

"The rustlers are our local people who conspire with outsiders to steal cows, goats and pigs. Others steal hens. With security agents overwhelmed, we must remain alert," he said.

He said the gangs collude with some pharmacists, who sell them the sedative drugs, and liquor outlets that provide strong concoctions to knock out the animals.

"We also have transporters who rent out their motor vehicles and motorcycles to be used in the racket. Consider yourselves as living dangerously since we are after you," he said.

He also warned area chiefs that he said keep quiet even when they know about the areas in their jurisdictions that are used to slaughter stolen animals before the meat is packaged and transported to the market.

Two private slaughterhouses in Kandara are being monitored after they were cited to be used by rustlers for 'meat laundering', with stolen animals slaughtered there for the mainstream market.

"We want cooperation with these slaughterhouses. The owners must put in place measures to minimise cases of rustlers cleansing stolen stocks by having them slaughtered in the facilities, stamped as clean meat and cleared for the market," Mr Shikondi said.

Area residents association committee member James Waweru told the Nation that the rustlers are well known and reports about them have been made to the authorities.

“We were previously told to nab them red-handed and hand them over to the police together with exhibits so that they can be prosecuted. But since the matter was made a regional security issue, we have taken a proactive approach and are now witnessing the gangs being defeated,” he said.

He said the gangs had become more active following a sustained crackdown on chang’aa brewers in the area, adding that those rendered jobless resort to robbing and stealing.

It is this cry that reached Agriculture CS Peter Munya, who in his June visit to Murang'a asked County Police Commander Ali Nuno and County Commissioner Karuku Ngumo to tackle thefts in the agricultural sector.

Mr Munya said that "the thieves were linked to several slaughterhouses and meat traders in the neighbouring counties".

Mr Ngumo said security agencies had committed to defeating the thieves.

He said they were mobilising Nyumba Kumi members and had increased vigilance in villages.

Last Thursday, Mr Shikondi held an identification parade at the Kenol Police Station for six cows that had been stolen from the home of Mr John Mwangi.

"The owner raised the alarm and Nyumba Kumi … members called the police. The cows had been stolen at around 4am and by 6am we had tracked them down, and although those who had them escaped, we were able to recover them," Mr Shikondi said.

He said that brought to 125 the number of animals recovered in the past two months – 56 cows, 40 goats and 29 pigs.

Mt Kenya Members of County Assembly caucus chairman Charles Mwangi said “the problem is big in that many youths being advised to venture into legal occupations as a way of earning a livelihood cannot venture into agribusiness since their projects assembled through borrowed or donated capital will be stolen by the gangs”.

He urged Interior PS Karanja Kibicho to increase the number of officers in the area and provide more police vehicles to enhance policing efficiency and defeat the gangs.

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