Residents of Kisauni and Likoni in Mombasa County are living in fear and panic following rampant cases of criminal gangs who allegedly use hospital needles and syringes to terrorize them.
HAKI Africa human rights group executive director Hussein Khalid jumped to the defense of the residents and called upon County Police Commander Johnstone Ipara to conduct investigations into the issue.
He stated that residents should enjoy peace and tranquility in the area especially during this Ramadhan period when Muslim faithful attend night prayers at various mosques.
“This new wave of criminal attacks is scary. We are demanding that police heighten security during this month of Ramadhan,” Khalid insisted.
Khalid cried out that the youths were using the needles to scare their victims and later rob them of their property.
According to the human rights lobby group, one of the residents, Said Abas, 22, who was attacked on Sunday by one of the gangs at Kiteje area and is nursing injuries in hospital.
Khalid further accused the police of extrajudicial killings in the area and termed their laxity to react to crucial security issues to be a key problem they have to attend to.
“Incidents of people being killed by the public are on the rise and this should stop. Police should be held responsible for these cases because they are supposed to protect the public,” Khalid lamented.
The rights group has called upon the residents to embrace community policing so as to identify the gang members.
The area has faced several and similar attacks before. Earlier on, a fourth-year student at the Technical University of Mombasa was killed by a machete-wielding gang in Kisauni.
