A police officer was Monday September 11 night shot and killed while three sustained serious bullet wounds in an ambush by gunmen in Degogicha area, Merti, Isiolo County.
The attackers are believed to be narcotics or human trafficking gang operating on the Isiolo-Moyale route.
Police said a group of 11 officers were patrolling Matarba, Nanu and Cutline areas on board Land Cruiser and on reaching Degogicha area they came under gun attack. The officers said they engaged the gang in a shootout for several minutes.
The incident happened at about 7 pm.
In the shooting constable Michael Kimanzi was fatally shot on the left side of his body with the bullet exiting on the right side of his abdomen.
Another officer was shot in the shoulder and the bullet exited from the back. Police said his condition was serious. A second officer was shot on his left thigh and condition is serious, police said.
According to police, a third officer was hit in the left knee.
The other seven officers were not injured but their vehicle was damaged on the right door and had an oil leak.
After the attack the officers managed drive back towards Malkagala area and back to station.
The injured officers were attended at Merti Sub-county hospital and referred to Isiolo County Referral hospital.
The body was moved to Meru for preservation ahead of planned autopsy.
It is the latest and new form of defiance on the side of the smugglers who are increasingly becoming bold in their business.
The route from Moyale-Marsabit to Isiolo is usually used in human smuggling and drug trafficking amid efforts by authorities to tame the trend.
Most of the victims are running away from Ethiopia and Eritrea to Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and the Middle East for jobs.
The smugglers and drug traffickers have resorted to use the cutline route in the bush in order to avoid the Isiolo-Moyale highway which is manned by multi-sectoral agencies that include police from Anti-Narcotics Unit and sometimes the army.
The smugglers bring the aliens into the country while others deal in a bhang variety called shashamane using the cutline route running from the border town of Moyale to Isiolo’s Merti area.
Police say from Merti, the cartels engage the services of local youth who escort the aliens and the contraband past roadblocks on foot and motorbikes.
The smuggled are ferried to Nairobi either via Isiolo town or Maua in Meru County.
The route is commonly used for such businesses as police have been seizing dozens of illegal immigrants and narcotics in operations.
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