Just like it happens just before elections, suspected sect members have allegedly started harassing locals demanding protection fees.
A few incidents that have been reported recently indicate that the gang members might be regrouping.
But the police say they are on the lookout and will not allow any illegal groups in the run up to the elections.
Central PPO Larry Kieng said police were in control of the security situation in the area, but were on the lookout for any trouble spots.
The PPO spoke as tens of residents interviewed in different districts in the province expressed fears that illegal groupings such as the dreaded Mungiki sect have a tendency to regroup in the run-up to the elections.
Mr Kieng disputed reports that theft of a motorbike in a market near Nyeri town could be linked to an illegal gang, saying that it was a crime perpetrated by a known criminal who has since gone underground.
“The motorcycle owner named the man who stole from him and we have arrested his two accomplices,” said Kieng yesterday.
Business was temporarily halted at Giakanja market on the outskirts of Nyeri town on Tuesday as residents protested harassment by gangsters.
The protesters claimed runaway crime in the area had forced them to live in fear and that security forces had been complacent in arresting the culprits.
The residents claimed the gangsters were operating as a branch of an outlawed sect and were forcing them to pay protection fees so that their homes and business premises were not raided.
Residents claimed that the gang was demanding Sh6,000 monthly from shop owners and other businesses while motorcycle operators were being asked to surrender half of their earnings daily.
The traders claimed that the gangsters were well known to them but that reports made to the police had not produced any results.
“We believe that this is being perpetrated in conjunction with the police,” said one of the protesters.
A woman who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisals said the gang asked her for Sh20,000 after she sold her cow.
Area DO1 James Wambua said the police would round up all the extortionists.
The Provincial Administration in Kiambu County has already announced that it has contingency measures to deal with any recurrence of tribal violence against members of communities working in tea and coffee estates in the area.
