The gang which is said to comprise between 15 and 20 members is said to have descended on the area when residents were asleep, broke into homes and demanded money and other valuables from elderly women.
According to Nyumba Kumi Chairman Charles Asuma, the assailants in the Wednesday incident particularly targeted homesteads where elderly women live, aiming at the money from the social protection fund.
“The gang went from house to house demanding money from the elderly women. On their trail, they assaulted anyone who tried to block them. They were armed with pangas and other crude weapons,” Asuma said.
Isabella Moraa, one of the victims of the gang, said she was accosted when she heard a commotion in her mother’s house.
When she went to open, she was confronted by at least four men armed with sharp pangas and a metal rod. They used the rod to hit her on the head and threatened to behead her if she raised alarm.
“They hit me on the head and then told my mum to give them all the money she had. We only had Ksh.1200, which we gave them. They then asked us direction to another villager’s house,” Moraa narrated.
The gang proceeded to four other homesteads where they left a trail of destruction, taking money and injuring residents.
Asuma says when the area chief and police from Bumburia police station were alerted, the gang had left the area using an unidentified vehicle.
“The other day the gang came back again but luckily someone spotted them and raised alarm. They were driving a Probox. They fled before police arrived at the area,” Asuma said.
The victims recorded statements at Rioma Police Station and are now demanding security from relevant authorities.
Police have commenced investigations with the aim of apprehending the assailants.
