By WAWERU MUGO 

Police fired in the air during a dramatic rescue of 10 teenagers who had been confined at a "religious discipline" school in Nairobi yesterday.

The early evening raid at the Khadija Islamic Institute of Discipline and Education led to the arrest of eight people, who claimed they were teachers at the school in Eastleigh.

The captives were found in chains. All of them had their feet chained and secured by big padlocks. Their hands were also manacled and some had their hands and feet chained together.

They were kept in a dilapidated room with little ventilation and light. Police said they were from different parts of the country and some were from Sweden, the United Kingdom, Ethiopia and Australia.

"My mother brought me here eight months to be taught religion. She signed a contract that would see me stay at the school for two years and paid the Sh5,000 per month maintenance fee upfront," 16-year-old Gulleid Ahmed, who claimed he was from Leicester in the United Kingdom said.

Ahmed brought his and the other teenagers plight to the attention of the authorities when he faked an illness which forced his minders to take him to the Menelik Hospital off Ngong Road.

"While there, l asked to see the doctor in private. My two minders left me alone with the doctor. I told him everything that was happening. The police were called and they raided the school," he said.

Police, with back-up from the Flying Squad, managed to rescue the teens. The youngest was Abdinoor Hassan, a 13-year-old from Bulla Pesa village in Isiolo. He said he was brought to the centre three years ago. 

Police said interviews with the boys revealed that one of them had been "sentenced" to 8,000 lashes. The boy was receiving 100 lashes a day. "But if he made any mistake, the number of lashes were increased," said the police. 

Abdikalak Jama, 20, who was brought to the centre on October 18, last year, from Eldoret, said he had been cheated by his father that he had been brought to the school for Islamic education. But no sooner had his father left than he found himself chained. 

"We were taught arithmetic, English and Islam. I did not try to escape as we were never allowed out of the room. We were kept chained except when we wanted to go to the toilet," he said.

Sixteen-year-old Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed, who comes from the nearby Ninth Street, said he managed to escape from the school and was forced back by some of his teachers.

As the police unchained and placed the boys in a pick-up, some of the hundreds of people who had gathered there started pelting the police with stones. At one point, police were forced to shoot in the air to scare away the crowd.

Several vehicles were damaged as the police made a quick getaway with the children. The pick-up carrying the children was escorted out of the place under heavy guard and in a convoy of at least 10 police cars.

The operation was supervised by the Provincial Police boss, Mr Stephen Kimenchu and his CID counterpart Gabriel Mutunga.

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