A gang of about 20 armed men raided a gold-leaching site in Nyatechi, Kuria West, Migori County, early Thursday morning but fled empty-handed after neighbours responded to the commotion.
The attackers, two of whom were reportedly armed with firearms suspected to be AK-47 rifles, stormed the site at about 4.15am and tied up two casual workers with ropes.
The workers were robbed of their mobile phones during the attack. Neither worker was injured.
The gang then broke into a building housing carbon used in the extraction of gold and drained the carbon chamber in an attempt to steal the material, estimated to be worth about Sh4 million.
However, the attackers abandoned their plan after noticing that neighbours were mobilising to respond to the raid. They fled the scene, leaving behind a red Boxer motorcycle, police said.
Police officers from Kehancha Police Station, together with detectives from Kuria West, visited the site and processed the scene.
The recovered motorcycle was towed to Kehancha Police Station, where it was secured as an exhibit as investigations into the incident continue.
The incident was reported by the owner of the gold-leaching site, who alerted police after the raid.
This comes amid concerns of rising cases of dropouts of children from schools for gold mining business.
Some local leaders have raised concerns over the trend and urged authorities to crack the whip on the issue to stop the trend.
Some children are increasingly abandoning classes for gold mining sites in the worrying trend.
The leaders have insisted education is key for any form of development and urged strict regulation of the mining sector to address such a menace.
Gold mining is becoming popular among locals in several parts of the country including Migori, Kilgoris, Kakamega, West Pokot, Nandi, Vihiga and Marsabit Counties hence the increased rate of
child labour.
A special police unit formed to address such concerns said they are investigating to take necessary action.
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