Kenya mass graves: In a shocking incident, police recovered 21 bodies near the coastal town of Malindi in Kenya after villagers complained against a preacher for practicing a religious “cult” luring people to starve to death I went.
The preacher, Paul Mackenzie Ntheng, told his followers to push themselves into starvation to “meet Jesus”, according to police, the BBC reported on Sunday.
In addition, the police said that they exhumed the bodies of 21 people, including children, and said they expected more bodies to be found.
According to reports, the shallow graves are in the Shakhola forest, where 15 members of the Good News International Church were rescued last week.
Meanwhile, state broadcaster KBC described him as a “cult leader” and reported that 58 graves had been identified so far. Also, the police claimed that they were expecting more bodies.
Preacher claims he closed his church in 2019
Local media reported that police had arrested them on 15 April after discovering the bodies of four people who were suspected to have killed themselves. When police asked the preacher about his religious practices, he denied any wrongdoing and claimed that he had closed his church about four years ago.
In the meantime, pathologists will take DNA samples, Manak reported and said they will test them to determine whether the victims died of starvation.
Significantly, this was not the first time that such gruesome incidents have shaken the whole world. Kenya is a religious country and there have been previous cases of people being lured into dangerous, unregulated churches or cults.