How detectives Caught up with Nairobi’s gang of Cop Killers.
A senior detective based in Kayole, gave a breakdown of the several gangs in the area, their targets and their modus operandi.
According to the detective who worked in the area for more than 16 years, the Gaza gang operates like the dreaded Mungiki and are armed with guns and homemade and swords.
Among their stock of guns according to the detective is a Jerico 941 pistol which they stole from a police officer they killed.
Constable Boniface Oketch was based at Soweto Police Station in Kayole and was killed by gunmen from Gaza gang that he was pursuing together with a colleague.
The two policemen were tracking the gang members following a robbery in Kayole. Soon after receiving a tip from an informant the policemen reached the spot where they were told was the location of the house of one of the gang leaders.
The two Policemen called for back up and as they conducted surveillance in the area. They took positions in the narrow pathway around the targeted house.
Unknown to the officers the house was a gang hideout and several wanted men were inside.
In a surprising move, two young men jumped out unexpectedly from a door in the narrow alley. Police later identified them as Michael Mwaniki aka Mwanii and an accomplice. They were brandishing a pistol and homemade gun.
Before the police constable Boniface Oketch could reach his gun to confront the two armed men, Mwanii first to react aimed and fired his gun into the policeman killing him on the spot.
The officer’s colleague fought back shooting to death Mwanii’s accomplice. The gang scampered as the officer fired aggressively before taking cover.
One of the thugs picked the dead officer’s gun they then scaled a wall and fled the scene. Several other wanted men who were inside the house also escaped during the exchange of fire.
Police reinforcement who arrived at the scene recovered a homemade gun from the dead gangster and 12 bullets from the house. The house was then profiled for fingerprints and evidence.
“They are targeting police officers so that they can restock their armoury; we have managed to recover a number of guns from them,” said a police officer who served with constable Oketch.
Oketch was killed the day another officer, still from Kayole who had been targeted by the gang was being buried.
The Administration Police officer Corporal Japheth Mwiti was shot dead by six gunmen near Naivas Supermarket, Kayole estate. He was shot five times in the chest and head as he left his business, a pub that he run in the area.
The gang did not steal anything except his gun which was loaded with 15 bullets.
Catherine Wairimu, 29, who was with Mwiti was also shot and wounded in the leg. Wairimu said they had been enjoying themselves until midnight, when they decided to leave in the policeman’s car.
But before they could even get into the car, a group of young men emerged and started shooting. “He (Mwiti) pushed me when the bullets started flying and I fell down before he drew a gun,” she said.
When they confirmed he was dead, they pointed a gun at me and hit me three times. They were aiming at the upper part of my body. They thought I was dead and left,” she said.
According to Nairobi police boss Japheth Koome, there had been a police operation in the area in which Mwiti was involved. Mr Koome said one of the gunmen had approached a guard at the kiosk after spotting Corporal Mwiti’s car outside and asked if he was still in there.
“When he walked out, they shot hitting the officer five times, killing him on the spot. We suspect they were after him,” he said. The gang then grabbed his gun before walking away.
As an indication of its destructive nature the same day they killed Mwiti, the gang killed three other people still within Kayole.
After leaving the scene of Mwiti’s murder at Kayole Junction, the thugs unsuccessfully tried to carjack a car but then chose to shoot two of the occupants, who were also rushed to Mama Lucy hospital. One of the victims Edison Natembeya was a former KDF officer and was eying the MCA seat Komarock Ward under Ford ticket, a police report detailed.
The then Kayole OCS Ben Baraza said Natambeya was shot at Kayole Junction when he was escorting his two friends.
The OCS added that the assailants ordered him to surrender his car keys but he hesitated to obey. One of his friends a businessman died at the scene of the shooting from multiple gunshot wounds.
Natambeya was rushed to hospital where he passed on. Nothing was taken from the two victims. Later in the night the same gang shot dead a security guard in an unrelated incident.
Police would later profile the group as part of Gaza gang. Police also identified its ring leaders as Michael Mwaniki aka Mwane Sparta and ‘Teddy’ aka Teddy Kasanga. Other members included ‘Odinga’ and Willy aka Willis.
The shooting to death of the AP corporal Japheth Mwiti is the act that introduced the gang’s entry as big players in the crime world.
Until then, they had only been involved in M-Pesa and kiosk robberies and had not been on the police radar.
Witnesses of the AP killing led investigating detectives their way. Kayole police commanders then formed a crack team of detectives to arrest or eliminate the thugs.
Using the guns they had obtained through murder the gang members barely out of their teens went on a robbery and killing spree.
The gang was linked to the shooting to death of Sergeant Asbel Kipkorir Limo, a bodyguard to the then Natural Resources Permanent Secretary Margaret Mwakima along Kangundo Road on January 14, 2017.
Limo, had just dropped the PS and was offloading shopping for his family from the vehicle near the entrance of the Administration Police residential quarters along Kangundo Road when he was accosted and shot dead by gunmen who robbed him of his gun.
Another victim Administration Police constable Kennedy Nkune, who was attached to a senior State House officer, was also killed by the gang.
The killing of AP Assistant Superintendent Eston Ndwiga in Mihango area on November 30, 2016 was also blamed on the gang.
Police said it was the same gang that shot dead former Moyale Member of Parliament Philip Galma Godana on February 14, 2016 at his Syokimau residence.
During the incident the robbers took cash, jewelry, flat screen television sets, laptops and mobile phones before escaping in a family car.
In another incident, the thugs abducted, gang raped and killed a young girl, a teenage form three student in Kayole
In another case, they robbed an M-Pesa agency in Kayole and shot dead the owner in the presence of his wife and children.
The gang also shot dead a pastor within Civil Servants estate but stole nothing from him.
How The Gang was Dismantled
On the 18th of August 2017, two policemen were shot dead by the gang members while on patrol at Miti Kenda area in Kibichoi, Kiambu County.
The two officers, who were attached to Kibichoi police post were ambushed by five gunmen while patrolling the area on foot; They were sprayed with bullets.
The gang members, who had arrived in the vicinity while riding on motorcycles, confronted the two officers by surprising them with a ruthless attack in broad daylight.
The gangsters took an AK-47 rifle and a pistol from the dead officers before fleeing.
Police said a man, who was driving along Kibichoi- Gathage road at 1.45 pm witnessed the shooting. He drove to Kibichoi police station and reported the incident to the station commander.
The reckless killings committed within a few months of each other marked the beginning of a major crackdown gunning for the heads of all the gang members by a highly specialised team of crack detectives.
Two days after the killing of the policemen in Kiambu, one of the gang leaders Michael Mwaniki aka Mwanii Sparta was shot dead following a police ambush and shootout at a suburb near Thika Town.
Also killed during the ambush was Willy’s a known kayole gangster. The gang was tracked after they ordered ammunition from their supplier in Kayole to be delivered at their hideout.
Following the shootout, the supplier was strangled to death and his body dumped in Thika.
Two months later remnants of the gang led by leader Teddy Kasanga killed two policemen who were on late night patrol at Matopeni slum in Kayole and stole two pistols.
Two days after the incident, three members of the gang were tracked to their hideout in Kenol Muranga and were shot dead by a team of GSU commandos after they held a family hostage for 5 hours inside an apartment.
Odinga, one of the members of the gang was also later shot dead in kayole his skull cracked open by police bullets.
The last five members of the gang including its leader Teddy Kasanga were tracked by police to their hideout in Tala, Machakos County months after the shoot out at Kenol.
Two thugs were shot dead by police inside the single room house. A police officer who had breached the door as the gang prepared breakfast was scalded with hot water had his gun snatched.
The gun was then used to shoot officer by the thug who fired wildly as he made is escape. The gangster was cornered by a mob a shortwhile later before he shot himself in the head.
Teddy and another gangster who had also escaped the house during the vicious fight with the small team of policemen was tracked a kilometre away.
A shootout ensued resulting in both gangsters being killed. A teacher on his way to school was hit by a stray bullet and died. With the killing of Teddy Kasanga police had successfully dismantled the core of the gaza gang.