Fourteen people have so far been arrested in a multi-agency operation in Chakama, Kilifi County following the kidnapping of an Italian student by suspected Al-Shabaab militants.
The assailants wounded five locals on Tuesday night before kidnapping 23-year old Silvia Constanca Romano.
Reports indicate that the suspects were arrested at Chakama and Galana-Kulalu on Wednesday night before being taken to different police stations for interrogation.
Coast Regional Commander Noah Mwivanda confirmed this but asserted that he was uncertain of the number of people taken into custody.
He went on to state that the operation would be extended to Tana River and Taita Taveta counties.
Ms Romano was staying at a house in a nearby village as she worked as a manager with African Milele Onlus, a non-governmental organization.
She was dragged barefoot from her house by the assailants who are suspected to have been on a mission to capture her.
The attackers had rented a local lodging three days earlier barely 20 metres from Silvia’s house.
A Mr Said Abdi Adan is also being sought by police as he went missing from the area days before the abduction.
This is after he had rented a house in Chakama and invited two other individuals to stay with him.
“I gave them two rooms in which they spent nights chewing miraa.
"Surprisingly, all of them have been missing since the attack. They silently left with everything that was in the house," Mr Malik Said Gasambi, a resident, told the press.
