Five Police Officers Held In Thika Police Cells For Attempted Kidnap.

Police in Thika have detained five police officers and a civilian for allegedly ‘kidnapping and arresting’ a foreigner for working in the country without the requisite documents.

The five, 2 officers attached to Kiambu Quick Response Team, 2 regular police officers from The Kenya Railways Police Headquarters Nairobi and 1 Administration Police (AP) who is said to be from Kaloleni Nairobi were nabbed by the Makongeni Police officers at Muthaiga Police Station while allegedly detaining the victim in custody. Also caught in the police dragnet was the civilian who was alleged to be the driver of the Probox taxi cab that had been used to ferry the victim to the station.

Three immigration officials whose identities are yet to be ascertained, managed to flee the scene upon the arrival of the Thika police.

Senior AP officers from both Central and Nairobi regions led by the Central Regional AP Commander spent the entire Saturday in a closed-door meeting at the Thika CID offices to gather facts about the case and ascertain the progress of the matter.

Briefing the press after the high level delegation, Thika Deputy Criminal Investigations Officer (DCIO) Raphael Wawire confirmed the arrests and said the meeting was meant to check on the progress of the investigations as well as to establish why the officers operated outside their areas of command without the knowledge of the area police.

“Two of the police officers are from the Kiambu Headquarters quick response team, two are regular police officers attached to Railways police headquarters while the last one was an AP attached to Kaloleni police station. The civilian was the driver of the Toyota probox that was used in the mission,” said Mr Wawire.

According to Mr Wawire, police in Makongeni trailed the five policemen after receiving reports from the owner of a quarry in the area that one of his employees had been arrested by people who claimed to be police officers.

“The quarry owner doubted their authenticity and rushed to notify Makongeni police who immediately trailed the five up until Muthaiga police station where they entered after realising that they were being pursued,” said Mr Wawire.

The five officers claimed that they had arrested the victim, a male Asian of Chinese origin, on suspicion that he did not have valid documents to be or work in the country.

Police are looking for two other vehicles used in the mission alongside the three immigration officers who are now at large.

“We suspect that the arrest was ill-intentioned. Why would five officers from different work station combine forces to operate in an area not in their jurisdiction? The officers at Muthaiga were not even aware of such an operation. We are also investigating if the immigration officers mentioned are genuine officers,” said the DCIO.

Preliminary reports had claimed that the Asian was a worker at the Standard Gauge Railway and had been held hostage by the police officers who were then demanding Sh1 million from him before they could release him.

They were alleged to have made several calls to some of his contacts before the matter was reported to police. It was then that a CID team trailed them from Jogoo Road, the City Centre and to Muthaiga Police Station where they drove to and tried to book the Chinese on claims that he was in Kenya illegally.

It was at that moment, the Thika team arrived and declared their interests in the case, prompting the arrest of the six suspects. They were later taken back to Thika for further grilling before being allaigned in court.

Police have however declined to release the identities of the suspects or allow the members of the fourth estate to interview the victim in what they referred to ‘avoiding to interfere with the proceedings of the investigation’.

Meanwhile, another officer attached to Thika police station was arrested on Friday after allegedly being found with an elephant tusk.

His colleague escaped on foot when Kenya Wildlife Service officers struck at a petrol station within the town where they had parked their car waiting for a client.

The officer, who was caught in the process of selling the ivory whose value is yet to be disclosed, was moved to Langata Police Station ahead of his arraignment to court on Monday.