In a Friday morning statement, the National Police Service (NPS) confirmed that officers from Mtwapa Police Station stormed a hideout in the Labour–Mtomondoni area, recovering an assortment of weapons including three pangas and a dagger.
The sting operation was triggered by a tip-off from locals and comes on the heels of chilling CCTV footage that recently went viral. The video captured machete-wielding criminals in Nyali violently attacking pedestrians, robbing them, and even forcing some to transfer money directly from their bank accounts.
According to the police, the suspects were tracked to a makeshift shack on the outskirts of Mtwapa Township.
“The officers proceeded to a structure believed to be the gang’s hideout, where four individuals were arrested,” read part of the NPS statement.
The arrested men are currently being held at Mtwapa Police Station as investigators seek to establish whether they are directly linked to the robberies caught on camera.
Residents in Nyali and Mtwapa have been living in fear after several late-night assaults left victims nursing injuries. One homeowner, whose CCTV cameras captured the horrifying ordeal, recounted hearing screams before spotting the attackers roughing up passersby and escaping on a motorbike.
Mombasa Police Commander vowed to keep a tight grip on the suspects and issued a stern warning to the wider gang network: “For the next few days, I will be camping in Nyali to ensure these boys are taken down. We will not allow them to resurface.”
The arrests mark a major step in the ongoing crackdown on the ‘Panga Boys,’ a gang long accused of terrorizing residents along Kenya’s coast.
