Kenyan security forces have intensified their crackdown on criminal elements in Isiolo and Marsabit counties, seizing 10 firearms and making significant recoveries in the ongoing Ondoa Jangili operation. The high-level security exercise, launched on February 3, 2025, is targeting a criminal network linked to remnants of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA).
According to police spokesman Michael Muchiri, a total of 14 makeshift camps believed to have been set up by criminals have been destroyed. The operation has also led to the confiscation of various items, including nine motorcycles, two motor vehicles, a water bowser lorry, and a sack filled with approximately 200 kilograms of cannabis. Additionally, security officers recovered a variety of firearm holsters, fake currency in US dollars and Ethiopian birr, food supplies, solar panels, generators, and military gear.
Muchiri emphasized that the ongoing security operation has significantly curtailed illicit activities, including the proliferation of small arms, illegal mining, human trafficking, cross-border incursions, and kidnappings for ransom.
“This has brought an end to the untold suffering experienced by people living along the Kenya-Ethiopia border,” Muchiri stated.
Security officials say that OLA elements have taken advantage of cultural and familial ties between the Borana people of Kenya and the Oromo of Ethiopia to infiltrate communities, using them as cover while conducting criminal operations.
The crackdown follows a high-level security meeting in January 2025 between President William Ruto, Ethiopia’s Director General of the National Intelligence Security Service, Redwan Hussien, and Kenya’s Director General of National Intelligence Service, Noordin Haji. The discussions at State House, Nairobi, are said to have played a crucial role in launching the Ondoa Jangili operation.
The OLA, an armed opposition group active in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, consists primarily of former members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) who refused to disarm following a failed peace deal, as well as disillusioned youth protestors.
Deputy Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja reiterated that the operation will continue targeting criminal elements engaged in arms trafficking, drug and human smuggling, illegal mining, and instigating tribal conflicts in the region, particularly in Sololo, Moyale, North Horr, and Merti sub-counties.
Kanja assured residents of their security and urged them to remain calm while cooperating with law enforcement agencies. Authorities have called on locals to provide critical intelligence that will aid in dismantling criminal networks and restoring long-term peace in the affected areas.
