- Made up of a number of companies who have undergone intelligence and combat training
- Owino said the unit on Sunday killed two terrorists in Lafey, Mandera county, who have been destroying masts.
Parts of Northern Kenya and its borders with Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia will now be manned a new team called the Black Intelligence Unit.'
The unit is made up of a number of companies who have undergone intelligence and combat training to neutralise hardcore criminals such as terrorists, poachers, drug dealers and bandits.
“The unit is dubbed black because it has been operating secretly from last week. A police company is a group of about 115 police officers,” a top police officer, who is part of the group, told the Star.
Police spokesperson Charles Owino said the unit is composed of young bright men and women who will track and root out criminal activities.
He said the unit on Sunday killed two terrorists in Lafey, Mandera county, who have been destroying masts.
“This group is well trained and it will work together with security agencies to ensure peace, law and order in Northern Kenya, Northeastern, Lamu, Ethiopia and North Rift. They are able to use sophisticated weapons or respond to criminals with modern weapons,” Owino said.
He said the officers recruited from the GSU and Administration Police were picked for their skills, problem-solving abilities and age, among other requirements.
“They were then trained for one year overseas and locally to handle dangerous weapons and criminals. I will not go into details but just know that the criminals' days are numbered,” Owino said.
The unit will support border patrol, rapid deployment and anti-stock theft units to maintain law and order.
“They went through special combat training to handle deadly weapons and neutralise heavily armed criminals. They are also young with excellent tactics and energy,” Owino said.
He said they are using intelligence gathered to maintain law and order.
“The Inspector General of Police came up with this unit which is trained in a special way to protect lives of police officers, teachers and locals in this region,” Owino said.
Edited by Frank Obonyo