At least one gunman suspected to be a bandit was shot and
killed in a failed robbery in a village in Makutani, Baringo County.
Police said they also recovered 33 cows that had been stolen from herders in the Kiserian area on Saturday,
An alarm was raised alerting police operating in the area and
prompting an operation targeting the about 20 bandits who had raided the
village.
One member of the National Police Reserve was shot and
injured in the hand and leg during the clash before he was evacuated to
Kabarnet Referral Hospital in stable condition.
The raiders were later intercepted, prompting an exchange of
fire that left one of them dead.
Police spokesman Michael Muchiri said several others escaped
with injuries.
“The animals were all driven back to Kiserian and handed
over to their rightful owners through the multi-agency approach,” he said.
This is the latest such incident in the area amid efforts
to address the menace.
Last week, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen
said cases of banditry had declined significantly this year.
A total of 21 people were killed in banditry attacks
reported between January- March 2025.
This is a decline compared to those killed in the same
period last year.
Murkomen revealed that the deceased include a police officer,
eight civilians and 12 suspects as compared to 58 persons who died in the same
period in 2024.
He said the first quarter security report covering January-March 2025, indicated a significant decrease in cases of banditry and stock theft.
The period between January and March recorded 167 cases of
stock theft compared to 263 in the same period in 2024.
During the period under review, a total of 4,935 livestock
were stolen compared to 8,557 in the
same period in 2024.
“Our security teams
are still confronted by challenges in the fight against banditry, including
proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons and commercialisation of
banditry through readily available markets for stolen livestock,” he said.
“There is also political interference and incitement,
competition for water and pasture during periods of drought and fights over
communal land boundaries.”
He added that inaccessible
safe havens for criminals due to poor infrastructure and mobile network
coverage, amongst other challenges, pose a challenge.
He said the
government is working hard to set aside resources for infrastructure
development, including schools and to provide our security officers with better
equipment and resources to tackle these challenges.
He said they are motivated by the gains they have made in
the first quarter, and we will work hard to safeguard these gains and secure our
nation in the
Murkomen has been leading the operations in the area, vowing
to end the menace.
He said cattle rustling in Northern Kenya has over the years
become an organised criminal enterprise responsible for deaths, poverty and
displacement.
“Its impacts are severe. It deprives pastoral communities of
their economic mainstay and aggravates the conditions of poverty in the
rangelands, fuelling communal grievances and revenge attacks,” he said.
