Unidentified foreign visitors walk outside the deserted beach home of a disabled French woman held hostage in Ras-Kitau on Manda Island in Lamu, October 4, 2011. Dozens of Kenyans protested on Monday against the government's lax security measures after gunmen seized a French hostage and escaped into Somalia, the second incident of its kind in recent weeks which locals fear will hit Kenya's lucrative tourism industry. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya (KENYA - Tags: SOCIETY CRIME LAW CIVIL UNREST) The beach home from which the disabled Frenchwoman was snatched. Photo: Reuters
Kenyan police have arrested seven people over the kidnapping of a handicapped Frenchwoman seized from her beachfront home at a prized resort island and taken to neighbouring Somalia.
''It is not possible that someone can come from a neighbouring country and go straight to a particular house and take away someone,'' police chief Mathew Iteere said.
''It is not possible at all and that is why we strongly believe that they [abductors] have got sympathisers or cells or what we refer to as sleepers within the region. And those are the people we are targeting and we have already several arrests. But we believe the larger group is from across [the border].''
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An armed gang seized Marie Dedieu, 66, early on Saturday from Manda Island in the Lamu archipelago, and fled by sea. It was the second kidnapping of a foreigner from the area in less than a month.
Ms Dedieu and her partner had only returned from a trip to France earlier the same week, a factor that led authorities to conclude the attackers may have been tipped off.
A police official said seven suspects were being held for questioning. ''Those in custody include a security guard who worked within the area where the woman was kidnapped,'' he said.
''Investigators are interrogating them to establish if they know how the abduction occurred or have any link with the abductors because the foreign gang must have been working with some locals in the region.''
The Kenyan police chief said they were working to free Ms Dedieu and British tourist Judith Tebbutt who was seized on September 11 north of Lamu and also taken to Somalia.
''There is a lot that is happening in a bid to ensure we get the kidnapped women back safely,'' Police Commissioner Iteere said.
AAP