Kidnappers are now targeting adults more.

In October last year, the Kenya forum ran an article warning Kenyan parents to beware following the rampant incidents of kidnappings targeting children.

One year down the line, it seems as though perpetrators of this vice have changed the angle of their clandestine business and are now targeting adults more. Recently the local media has been filled with news of kidnapping cases targeting businessmen. such cases have become regular especially in Murang’a County.

Last month a 45 year old bank manager Mr. George Kamau Njung’e, was abducted by four men from his home in Kambirwa village of Kiharu and his body found hours later at a quarry near Murang’a town with gunshot wounds.

KIDNAPPERS POSING AS POLICE OFFICERS

Soon after the bankers incident, a butchery owner in Maragua town, Mrs Mercy Wanjiru Mbugua, was abducted at her business premises while her employee was shot and died while undergoing treatment. Luckily, Mercy was left unhurt after her family allegedly paid over Ksh.100,000 before she was set free after being held hostage for four days.

The three gangsters who had abducted her are said to have been using a vehicle bearing GK number plates.

On Monday, September 14/15, the star carried a story under the headline, BUSINESSMAN KIDNAPPED, SON SHOT IN KANDARA. A 50 year old businessman, Peter Kiarie was abducted from his shop at Kaha-ini village in Kandara last weekend on Thursday by an armed four man gang who posed as police officers and his son was shot in the process. The kidnappers later called the family demanding a Ksh. 10 million ransom for his release. Sadly, Kiarie’s headless body was found last Saturday several kilometres from his home but his head was nowhere on the scene.

Earlier, the body of a vendor from Mukuyu Mr. Kenneth Kang’ethe Gitau, 42, who had been reported missing on August 13, was found dumped at a River. His hands were tied with a wire and his body had stab wounds on the neck.

Last week, an Eldoret lecturer Dr. Ahmed Faraj and his wife Norah who had been kidnapped by gangsters near their home  were released in Nakuru town over the weekend which is a few kilometers from where they had been abducted. Following the kidnapping, the kidnappers had demanded for Ksh. 3 million ransom however it’s not clear whether the money was paid. It’s alleged that the kidnappers withdrew money from the couple’s bank accounts.

Early this week the standard ran another story under the headline:BODY OF MISSING MAN RETRIEVED FROM MANHOLE AFTER TIP OFF FROM SUSPECTED KIDNAPPER

The 29-year-old man went missing in July this year while on duty at a factory in Kahawa west and had not been traced. His body was found in a manhole near Kamiti Prisons in Nairobi on Wednesday this week following a tip off from one of the suspects who had been arrested following the incidence.

“We are yet to know the motive of the murder so far but we have a suspect and have so far retrieved the bones of the man. The family who stays in Kikuyu has been informed,” said Kasarani Division CID boss Valerian Obore.

CHILDREN ON THE TARGET AS WELL

Children have also been targeted by kidnappers and hardly a week goes by before a child is reported missing.

As reported by NTV last week, two women were arrested on Sunday evening after they were found with a stolen child in the Nairobi’s CBD. According to Central OCPD Patrick Oduma, the child was stolen from the mother by the two women near Re-Insurance Plaza.  The child was playing along with other children at the parking lot when she was taken away by the two women who were pretending to be trainers.

A popular Nobel page on Facebook titled Kenya Missing & Unidentified Persons is always full of notices of missing children and in some cases, families have been lucky enough to be reunited with their loved ones following publicity from the page.

From the look of things it appears as though there are cartels who have found quick bucks from kidnapping people and asking from ransoms from their families. Unfortunately most cases turn sour and lives of innocent victims are lost. It’s high time the police stayed vigilant and brought to book perpetrators of the vice.