Village elder arrested after staging abduction for Sh10,000 ransom in Mombasa

A village elder and another man were arrested in Mombasa after allegedly staging an abduction and demanding a Sh10,000 ransom.

The incident was reported at Mikindani Police Station on Sunday, August 30, 2026, after a village elder from Aldina “B” in Jomvu, was reported to have been abducted by unknown people.

The elder was allegedly abducted on August 28 at about 9am by people travelling in a Probox vehicle.

The abductors were said to have demanded Sh10,000 to secure his release.

The police launched investigations into the reported abduction and on August 30 arrested a man who was the registered owner of the telephone number allegedly used to solicit the ransom.

He was arrested at the Mariakani SGR terminus.

Investigators established that he was also a village elder at Kasemeni Village in Mazeras, Kwale County.

He confessed to hosting the other elder at his home since August 28. He allegedly told investigators that the elder had approached him and requested assistance in raising money to buy a goat.

The suspect led officers towards his home. However, before they arrived, they encountered the said abducted elder riding on a boda boda.

He had fresh, shallow cut wounds on his back and initially claimed that the injuries had been inflicted by a wire as he escaped from the alleged abductors’ compound.

Police said he later confessed to inflicting the injuries on himself using barbed wire.

Both men were arrested and booked at Mikindani Police Station.

They are expected to be charged with giving false information to a person employed in the public service, relating to an alleged staged disappearance and false report of abduction.

And police in Nairobi are investigating a break-in at a hotel in South C during which thieves stole two motorcycles, a laptop and four mobile phones.

The incident occurred at Milele Hotel along Muhoho Road.

According to police, a maintenance and water officer at the hotel, was alerted by a security guard at about 6am that two motorcycles parked within the hotel compound were missing.

The motorcycles included that of the guard which was black-and-yellow Boxer and the hotel’s red TVS motorcycle.

He rushed to the hotel and discovered that his office had also been broken into.

A laptop and four mobile phones were reported stolen from the office.

Police officers visited the scene and launched investigations into the break-in and theft. Detectives are expected to review available security footage and pursue leads that could help identify and arrest the suspects