Two hundred and twenty suspected gang members have surrendered to security officers in Mombasa.
The members are said to belong to various gangs including Wakali Wao, Watalia, Kapenguria Six, Nyumba ya Zamani, Gaza boys,and Wakali Kwanza.
The youths are reported to have left the criminal gangs after security organs promised them amnesty.
Addressing journalists after receiving the suspects, Likoni deputy county commissioner Albert Kimathi said that anyone who surrenders will be offered amnesty.
He added that his security team is working together with human rights organization and religious leaders in various parts of the county to reach out to radicalized youths, in a bid to convince them to surrender to police.
“We don’t want to shoot the children. We want to give them a chance because by the time you break the law by carrying crude weapons there is no difference with other criminal gangs,” he said, as quoted by Baraka FM.
This comes at a time when the county and national governments have vowed to fight crime and terrorism in the coastal region.