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| Police and local residents load the exhumed bodies of victims of a religious cult into the back of a truck in the village of Shakahola, near the coastal city of Malindi, on April 23, 2023. |
In Shakahola, autopsies have been conducted on corpses found in mass graves, raising suspicions of forced organ harvesting. The graves, located near the coastal town of Malindi, have shocked the deeply religious Christian-majority country, AFP reports.
Police believe most of the bodies belong to followers of self-styled pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, who is accused of ordering his followers to starve to death "to meet Jesus."
While starvation appears to be the main cause of death, some of the victims, including children, were strangled, beaten, or suffocated, according to the chief government pathologist Johansen Oduor.
Court documents filed on Monday revealed that some of the corpses had missing organs, and police allege that the suspects were engaged in forced organ harvesting.
Chief Inspector Martin Munene said in an affidavit filed to a Nairobi court that post-mortem reports have established missing organs in some of the bodies of victims who have been exhumed.
Munene believes that trade on human body organs has been well-coordinated, involving several players, but he gave no details about the suspected trafficking.
A high-profile televangelist named Ezekiel Odero, who was arrested last month in connection with the same case, has received "huge cash transactions," allegedly from Mackenzie's followers who sold their property at the cult leader's bidding.
The Nairobi court has ordered the authorities to freeze more than 20 bank accounts belonging to Odero for 30 days.
A total of 112 people have been confirmed dead so far, according to Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki. The minister arrived in Malindi to supervise the resumption of exhumations, which were suspended last week because of bad weather.
"Search and rescue efforts for persons suspected to be holed up in the thickets and bushes have been going on," Kindiki said.
There are questions about how Mackenzie managed to evade law enforcement despite a history of extremism and previous legal cases.
The former taxi driver turned himself in on April 14 after police acting on a tip-off first entered Shakahola forest, where some 30 mass graves have now been found.
Prosecutors are asking to hold the father of seven, who founded the Good News International Church in 2003, for another 90 days until investigations are completed.
Senior Principal Magistrate Yusuf Shikanda said he would rule on the request on Wednesday.
The discovery of these mass graves has sent shockwaves throughout the country, with many questioning how a cult like this could exist and operate without being detected by law enforcement.