Security officers keep guard on the Lamu-Kiunga road in Boni Forest on December 14, 2015.
A section of residents in Lamu have raised concern over threats being issued by security personnel undertaking the Linda Boni operation.The residents asked the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) to investigate cases of the officers applying excessive force and issuing threats to those suspected of hiding al-Shabaab militants.Addressing journalists on Monday, residents in Koreni, Lamu West, accused IPOA of being reluctant to address their plight.Led by Former chief Muhumed Kalmey, who is also a Nyumba Kumi official, the residents said the officers have continued to mistreat them in the name of flushing out the suspected militia from their hideouts.They claimed that police have been breaking into their homes to conduct forceful searches. The residents also said that some of them have been arrested over terror links without police conducting proper investigations.“We are no longer free in our village. The security agencies invaded the village and harassed us. They arrested me and held me at the Mpeketoni Police Station for several hours,” said Kalmey as quoted by the Nation.“I was interrogated as if I was a terrorist before I was released. What we are facing at the hands of the police is very unfair,” he added.