The government says police have rescued four individuals and are investigating the mysterious deaths of at least three others in a suspected case of religious radicalisation in the Binzaro village of Chakama, Kilifi County.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said police are conducting an operation on a secluded five-acre homestead following a public tip-off about suspicious religious activities.
“A 50-year-old man who had been reported missing at Siaya Police Station on April 15, his 40-year-old wife, and two females aged 40 and 19, were rescued from the compound,” the ministry said.
“Preliminary assessments indicate that the individuals may have been held under the influence of radical teachings.”
Two human skulls and the fresh body of an unidentified adult male were also recovered in nearby thickets, the ministry said.
A “prime suspect” whose identity was not revealed is in custody alongside three people said to be managers of the compound.
“Additionally, three other persons have been detained in connection with the sale of the property to the suspect, amid unresolved questions surrounding the legality and transparency of the ownership and transaction processes,” reads the statement.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations in Malindi has secured protective custody for the rescued individuals and is seeking court warrants for a forensic search of the site.
Part of Chakama encompasses Shakahola forest, where over 450 bodies were retrieved from shallow graves in a 2023 religious cult case, now infamously known as the Shakahola massacre.
Pastor Paul Mackenzie of the Good News International Church is accused of ordering his followers to starve themselves and their children to death so that they could go to heaven.
In the latest case, it is said that the man and wife arrested had been rescued during the 2023 operation, but disappeared again earlier this year.
In March, the couple fled their Siaya home with six children aged between 1 and 15 years before resurfacing in Kilifi, the man’s brother told Citizen TV last week.
He said the family had been reintegrated into the community but mysteriously vanished months ago.
