Surrender your guns within 24 hours, DIG Lagat tells bandits in Kerio Valley

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Eliud Lagat speaks to security officers when he toured Tot, Kerio Valley, March 7, 2025.

Deputy Inspector General Eliud Lagat has issued a 24-hour ultimatum for individuals in possession of illegal firearms in Tot, Kerio Valley to surrender them.

Additionally, the DIG ordered intensified security operations to flush out criminals destabilising peace in the area.

“Anybody who has an illegal firearm, who is not supposed to own a firearm, should return the gun to authorities. If not, we will be coming for them. Return the guns to chiefs, elders or the National Police Reservists,” he said.

“If they will not surrender the guns, we will go for them whether they likeb it or not.”

Lagat also suspended all local security peace meetings conducted by village elders to allow police officers to carry out security operations effectively.

Lagat issued the directives on Friday when he visited Tot following a surge in banditry-related crimes.

During the visit, Lagat held a security meeting with representatives from three subcounties: Kerio Valley, Pokot Central and Tiaty West.

“Listening to my commanders, I have learnt that generally, there has been a peaceful co-existence since government interventions last year. We have had a 70 per cent reduction in banditry and crime,” he said.

He, however, noted that there has been un upsurge in crime in the last three weeks during which a few people died.

“I want to warn the criminals, some of who are known to us. They are large and we are going to deploy a multi-agency team with one sole purpose - to flush them out,” he said.

“As a government, we want to arrest them in the shortest time possible. I want to tell them to come out or we will go for them. We are not going to allow very few people to disturb the peaceful ecosystem we have in this place.”

Lagat asked the community to cooperate with officers in tracing the suspected criminals.

Four people, including two pupils, were recently killed in two separate bandit attacks in Elgeyo Marakwet and Baringo counties.

A multi-agency security team comprising the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), the Anti-Stock Theft Unit (ASTU), and the General Service Unit (GSU) is hunting down the bandits.