Conflict triggered by a case involving contested land in Nyali, Mombasa County escalated on Wednesday after armed goons broke into a private school.
A gang of unknown people on March 13 raided the school situated within the controversial piece of land, demolishing its perimeter wall.
According to area residents, a member of a wealthy family claiming a chunk of the land allegedly hired goons to invade the school, to scare the occupants into vacating.
Local reports further noted that the gang threatened the teachers and area residents with eviction, verbally attacking the people present on the school grounds during the invasion.
The residents are now requesting the National Land Commission (NLC) to intervene before further damage is done.
“We have tried to report at the county offices, so we get to buy part of the land where our houses are, instead of paying rent for the rest of our lives,” one resident claimed.
“The owner of this place is involved with people in authority, that is what has delayed these cases for so long,” he added.
Resenting the delay in the court’s ruling on the case, another occupant of the land asked the police to investigate the incident and arrest the culprits responsible for the school demolitions.
In a similar incident, detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Wednesday detained a suspect accused of leading a five-member gang to rob the Bishop Sulumeti Chelelemuk Girls Secondary School in the county's Teso North sub-county.
According to DCI, the gang raided and stole laptops and money from the school bursar's and principal's offices.
The officers further confirmed that the gang had also been linked to numerous violent robberies in Bungoma, Vihiga, Kakamega, and Busia counties.
Further investigations have been launched to nab the rest of the gang members after detectives secured custodial orders to launch a manhunt.
