Police are investigating an incident in which unknown people attacked and vandalized the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited (KETRACO) towers in a village in Marsabit County.
The incident happened on August 14 in Karare village where the towers are erected.
Locals told police they saw a motorcycle make several trips to the tower and on checking they found the towers had been vandalized.
Police visited the scene and recovered several metals, which had been vandalized.
This exposed the crucial towers that are used in the transmission of power from Ethiopia.
Karare is near the Kenya-Ethiopia border which has been experiencing insecurity incidents of late.
Police said a squad has been sent to the area to pursue the matter. No arrest has been made and the motive is yet to be known.
Ketraco plans, designs, constructs, owns, operates and maintains the nation’s high-voltage electricity transmission grid and regional power interconnectors.
The affected line forms part of the 686Km 500kV HVDC Ethiopia Kenya Power Interconnector (Eastern Electricity Highway Project) that runs from Woloyta/Sodo in Ethiopia to Suswa substation in Kenya.
The transmission project traverses a 263Km stretch of communally owned land across Marsabit County where the company has put up 13 community projects.
The Ethiopia Kenya Power Interconnector was conceived in 2006 when Ethiopia and Kenya signed a memorandum of understanding that allowed for the establishment of a power system interconnection between the systems of Ethiopia and Kenya.
Officials said security had been enhanced on the Ketraco line as part of efforts to ensure the incident does not recur.
Security officials are pursuing gangs that have been terrorizing locals and targeting officials in a series of attacks in the past weeks.
Up to ten people have been killed in the incidents in Moyale alone amid claims the attackers are coming from Ethiopia.
Police said they are holding eight suspects including six Ethiopians over the incidents that have also seen two South Koreans kidnapped.
Acting Inspector General of National Police Gilbert Masengeli and Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin led a team to the area for talks with locals.
The team spent the better part of Thursday talking with the locals and security teams as part of efforts to secure the release of the two missionaries.
They also talked about an attack by gunmen on August 12 that left eight people dead. The attackers also torched a lorry that the group was using in the same area. Only one person survived the attack.
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