Kenyan police say they have arrested a "serial killer" suspect who had confessed to murdering 42 women before dumping their dismembered bodies in a Nairobi rubbish tip.
Since Friday, a total of nine mutilated and dismembered bodies trussed in plastic bags have been pulled from the garbage site in the Mukuru slum area in the south of the capital, a gruesome discovery that has horrified the nation.
Acting Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja said the 33-year-old prime suspect, named Collins Jumaisi Khalusha, was arrested near a bar at around 3 am (0000 GMT) on Monday.
"We are dealing with a serial killer, a psychopathic serial killer who has no respect for human life," the head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Mohamed Amin, said.
'Lured, killed, and disposed'
He told reporters the arrest came after a joint operation by the DCI and the National Police Service.
"The suspect confessed to have lured, killed, and disposed of 42 female bodies at the dumping site," Amin said, adding that Khalusha claimed the murders took place between 2022 and July 11 this year.
"Unfortunately, and this is very sad, the suspect alleged that his first victim was his wife... who he strangled to death, before dismembering her body and disposing it at the same site," he said.
The suspect has not been formally charged in court.
Nine bodies have so far been pulled from the crime scene, according to police on Monday. Police said on Sunday that those that had been recovered so far were all female bodies.
Ongoing investigations
Kanja said autopsies on the victims would be carried out on Monday.
Amin also told reporters that they had arrested a second suspect, "who was caught with one of the handsets from one of the victims."
The discoveries have also shed another spotlight on Kenyan police and added more pressure on President William Ruto, who is struggling to contain a crisis over widespread anti-government protests that saw dozens of demonstrators killed.
Kenya's police watchdog, the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA), said on Friday it was investigating whether there was any police involvement in the bodies found in the tip, noting that the dumpsite was just 100 metres (yards) from a police station.
Search for victims
Kanja, who was appointed only on Friday amid the fallout over last month's protest bloodshed, told reporters last week that all officers at the police post located near the quarry had been transferred.
Still, tensions ran high at the crime scene over the weekend, as volunteers combed through the vast piles of rubbish in search of more victims.
Trouble briefly erupted when locals tried to take a bag they had hauled out of the quarry to the police station but were met with volleys of tear gas, an AFP journalist at the scene said.
Kenyan police are often accused by rights groups of using excessive force, carrying out unlawful killings, or running hit squads, but few have faced justice.
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