We all love movies and for some of us we go further to watch documentaries of the most dangerous criminals and no go zones .
But what you may not know is that back at home theirs a notorious town or gangster at any one time who has ever been hunted.What you may not know about Mugo Wa Wairimu’s hideout is that the small town he was hiding in is no coincidence for fugitives.
Gachie is a settlement in Kiambu County which enjoys close geographical proximity to the city of Nairobi and it neighbors Nyari Estate. A few years ago, the small town had set a track record for being a den of thugs and insecurity. Although the its fast changing and currently hosting the best estates in Kenya , those who have had an experience years before will tell you that among the Nairobi suburbs, Gachie was a no go zone.
One morning in mid-May, Mrs Jane Ngoiri woke up to find the rusty gate to her home missing. It had been detached from its concrete base in the dead of night and most probably sold to scrap metal dealers.
About a week later, a neighbour, Ms Margaret Kamande, also awoke to find her 500-litre plastic water tank gone. The thieves did not bother to drain it first, possibly so that they could make some money selling the water to vendors.
Such are the stories that one hears in Gachie, an urban village on the outskirts of Nairobi that has over the years gained the unenviable reputation of being a hotbed of all manner of criminal activities.
It is these crimes that have given Gachie a bad name; some people suggest that the area could be one of the most difficult, if not the outright dangerous, areas to live in.
As one resident put it, nearly every family in the village has its own type of criminal and an accompanying tale of a young man tragically lost to organised crime, drugs, prostitution or alcoholism.
However, some of Gachie’s residents say their village has been the victim of skewed and ill-informed media coverage.
“You people (the Press) keep on reporting bad things about us, but you have never even lived here to experience it,” said Mr Johnson Kurunye, 68, who has witnessed the village’s decline over the decades.
“People have lost cars driving in this place. This place was once known for muggings, hijackings and break-ins.”
Shock as news emerges that the Chairperson of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (Supkem) was attacked by gun-wielding gangsters in his Gachie home outside Nairobi on Thursday. The gangsters held him ransom for several hours as they stripped the house of valuables. pic.twitter.com/BxgBd1s7NW
— Kenya Muslims (@KenyaMuslimNews) January 7, 2018
We noticed that whenever we slowed down to get a feel of the village, the clusters of idle young men gathered by the roadside slowly melted away in different directions.
“An unfamiliar vehicle that is being driven slowly can only mean one thing to most youth here: police. And the police equal trouble. That explains their uneasiness around strange cars,” she explained. Until two years ago, crime and impunity, she told us, had reached such alarming levels that your security was not guaranteed as you enjoyed a meal or drink by yourself or with family and friends in bars or even in hotels.
Gachie was home to Simon Matheri Ikere, one of Kenya’s most-wanted criminals, who was killed by police in 2007 in Athi River. It was at the height of his infamy that crime in Gachie spiked.
“Matheri used to come here with lots of cash, and he would buy young people a lot of alcohol. That flashy lifestyle deluded a lot of young men into embracing crime as a short route to riches,” Ms Njeri said.
Matheri’s flashy lifestyle was so alluring that schoolchildren, including those at primary level, are said to have dropped out to enter the criminal world.
“A number of young men were killed during that period either by fellow criminals or by the police,” she said. “Every family here has a tale of the loss of a loved one to narrate.”
It is said that after Matheri’s death, a major security operation was undertaken in which hundreds of young men were rounded up; some disappeared, never to be seen again.
Those who survived the operation fled to towns like Ngong, Kiserian and Kitengela where they are said to have introduced their criminal ways.
Gachie’s positive attributes have attracted criminal elements. Its close proximity to the capital Nairobi – it is approximately a 20-minute drive from Nairobi’s central business district – and its dense vegetation make it an ideal hiding place for gangsters.
“One can comfortably commit a robbery in Nairobi and in the next 15 minutes be having a drink with his pals here,” said Mr Kurunye. The town has six points from which to access upscale estates near it.