By P, KNA
Gold dealers in Bondo are living in fear following a spike in incidents where armed thugs have been waylaying their members, robbing them of cash and minerals.
And the dealers are now blaming the security agencies of doing little to bring the suspects to book and are calling on the government to act.
Addressing the press in Bondo town, the dealers, led by Ronix Ochieng Owili, lamented that the past fortnight has seen an increase in the number of raids targeting their colleagues, adding they have been reporting the incidents to Bondo Police Station, but no action has been forthcoming.
“The police officers have been telling us to be patient as they are doing investigations,” he lamented.
His colleague, Joseph Kamago said the public were concerned that the thugs seem to be operating with impunity.
“They attacked one of our own and barely a week later, they stormed the home of another using the same vehicle” he said.
Kamago said the second incident occurred barely 100metres from Bondo Police Station and the thugs fired in the air, but surprising there was no response from the police.
“Action must be taken and we demand that the Directorate of Criminal Investigations tell us how far they have gone with identifying the gun, after we gave them a spent cartridge that we recovered from the scene of attack,” he said.
The gold dealers who also included Vincent Agumba, Brian Okumu Okach and Frank Dinga, said insecurity will negatively affect the thriving mining sector in the area, adding they may be forced to take the law into their hands if the government fails to protect them.
“We are capable of mobilizing those working in the mining sector and sympathisers to deal with the thugs, some of whom we know,” they said.