Police in Changamwe Sub-county, Mombasa, have in their custody 27 people, including 20 children, believed to belong to a suspected religious extremist group operating from a local church.
According to authorities, officers discovered the group living in confinement under alarming conditions, cut off from the outside world and denied access to education and medical care.
Speaking to the press on Monday, Changamwe Sub-county Police Commander Patrick Gogo said the police acted after receiving a public tip-off about a woman who had withdrawn her children from school and locked them inside the church.
“We received information from the public that a woman had pulled her children out of school and confined them in the church. On Friday and Monday, we stormed the premises and found 27 people, seven women and 20 children aged between two and fifteen years,” said Gogo.
He confirmed that police rescued all the individuals and took them to Changamwe Police Station for interrogation as investigations into the group’s activities continue.
“We want to establish exactly what they have been doing there. Some of the children are of school-going age and should be sitting for their Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA), but they were locked away,” Gogo explained.
The commander described the conditions inside the church as deplorable, revealing that the rescued individuals were sleeping on bare floors without mosquito nets.
“We found them in a sad state, sleeping on the floor without mosquito nets. You know how this region is infested with mosquitoes, keeping them in such a state only exposes them to disease,” he said.
Authorities have not yet established how long the group had been living at the church. Police made their first breakthrough on Friday when they rescued a woman and three children, who later led them to the rest of the group.
Gogo said police had summoned the church’s management and pastors for questioning, but none had presented themselves.
The commander also urged the public to stay alert and report suspicious gatherings that may involve radical or cult-like teachings.
“It is normal for Christians to attend overnight prayers on weekends,” he said. “However, people should be cautious and avoid joining extremist groups that could mislead them. We do not want a repeat of tragedies like Shakahola or Kwa Binzaro in Kilifi County.”
Police are currently profiling the rescued individuals and pursuing those believed to be behind the secretive religious operation as investigations continue.
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