Seventeen youths arrested in Mlolongo town, Machakos county, on Tuesday and charged with being drunk and disorderly have been placed on community service.
A Mavoko law court placed the suspects on community service at Mlolongo police station where they had earlier been held.
The 17 on Wednesday appeared before senior principal magistrate Rose Gitau and pleaded guilty for being drunk and disorderly.
The court ordered that the suspects serve on community service under probation.
Initially, the youths had been arrested on suspicion of being members of an outlawed gang group.
Athi River East subcounty police commander Anderson Mbae earlier said the suspects, all male, were nabbed during a night swoop at Gathangaita estate within Mlolongo Township on Tuesday night.
Mbae said the arrests were prompted by a failed attempt by the group to breach the peace in Mlolongo town on Tuesday.
“We got information of their suspected activities on Tuesday and moved into action beforehand,” Mbae told the Star on Wednesday.
He said they were able to suppress the group before any eventualities.
“We preempted, but later in the night conducted a crackdown and arrested 17 youths,” Mbae said.
The police boss said among the intelligence information they got on the gang was that they wanted to allocate themselves spaces for stalls along the town’s Madharau Street.
The nature of the trade they intended to engage in the stall is best known to them.
He said multiple reports on the gang whose majority are youth were made at Mlolongo police station between 9am and 12pm on Tuesday before they conducted a raid minutes past midnight.
Mbae warned that as security agencies in the Athi River East subcounty, they won’t relent in their efforts to deal with any criminal gangs or anybody who intends to cause fear or insecurity in the area.
“For the financiers and sympathisers of these outlawed gang groups, we are keenly monitoring them,” Mbae said.
