High school girls in Kenya who end up staying at home due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic have become a target of what the Kenyan Directorate of Criminal Investigations describes as an "online cartel".
As DCI explained on Twitter, the girls were "lured out of their homes" via a social media account, only to end up becoming involved in "partying orgies” that lasted "for days".
The DCI believes that the cartel is operating from Nairobi, and says that the suspects are using “internationally-registered telephone numbers".
Preliminary investigations by the DCI have established the girls were lured out of their homes through a social media account named Carty-gang-ent.
— DCI KENYA (@DCI_Kenya) November 21, 2020
The cartel has been using internationally-registered telephone numbers, although they operate from Nairobi.
According to BBC, this development comes amid recent reports in Kenyan media about young girls disappearing, "some after being promised jobs".
The cartel situation reportedly came to light after child-protection detectives managed to rescue three of the seven girls who were previously reported missing.
The cops have announced that they are now “hunting down” the members of the cartel, and urged parents to "take keen interest in their children’s activities at home and on social media networks".
As the investigations go on, we wish to issue a stern warning to individuals taking advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to prey on school girls who are at home, especially through the social media networks, that their days are numbered.
— DCI KENYA (@DCI_Kenya) November 21, 2020
"As the investigations go on, we wish to issue a stern warning to individuals taking advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to prey on school girls who are at home, especially through the social media networks, that their days are numbered", the DCI declared.
