NAIROBI, Kenya, May 23 – Police in Turkana have apprehended two individuals in connection with a series of robberies and violent incidents that have plagued the Kitale-Lodwar Highway.
The National Police Service announced on Monday that the suspects, identified only as Ekusi, alias “damu yake,” aged 18, and Ekalale, alias “Namso,” aged 24, are believed to be affiliated with criminal gangs responsible for the wave of crimes along the route.
During the arrest, law enforcement officers conducted a search and recovered an AK-47 rifle from the suspects.
“The duo were spotted within Smailele Village Kalemnng’orok Sub-Location,and upon search,an Ak47 Rifle loaded with 2 rounds of ammunition was recovered,” the NPS said.
The NPS lauded the members of the public for providing information that led to the arrest of the suspects.
The Kitale-Lodwar Highway has been a hotbed of attacks, with armed gangs targeting both passengers and police vehicles.
On February this year, three police officers were killed and seven injured following a gun battle with suspected Pokot bandits along the Kitale-Lodwar Highway.
Police said a multi-agency team comprising the General Service Unit officers, Rapid Deployment Unit officers and officers from the Anti-Stock Theft Unit who had re-visited Friday’s scene, approximately 5 kilometers from KWS camp along Lodwar-Kitale highway came under heavy fire from the bandits.
“While at the scene, armed bandits started firing at them indiscriminately from the bushes from the scene the officers managed to recover 3 bodies of the officers who were missing and had succumbed to the injuries,” a police report said on February 12.
In earlier police report the officers who were on patrol were ambushed by about 300 bandits about five kilometres from the Kenya Wildlife camp, towards Kakong.
Before the night incident, three people had earlier been killed in the same area and one critically injured by armed men who waylaid a Lodwar-bound Public Service Vehicle spayed and sprayed it with the bullets as the driver sped off from the scene.
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