A police officer who was arraigned before a Mombasa Court to answer to charges of stealing money has been acquitted.

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Mr Job Ouma was being accused of stealing Sh283,000 that was recovered from robbery suspects.

The court heard that Mr Ouma stole the money between October 16, 2014 and October 10, 2016 at Taru police station in Kwale County.

The police officer during the hearing was facing three charges which include theft, having forged papers that he allegedly intended to pass as special papers in making bank currency notes worth that amount and destroying evidence.

The prosecution told the court that on March 3, 2014, four suspects were arrested after they stole Sh418,000 from two employees of Premier Flour Samburu and Taru on Mombasa-Nairobi highway.

The four suspects who were armed with guns were later arrested at Mariakani Weigh bridge but the police only managed to recover Sh288,000.

During the hearing of the case, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and Kenya Commercial bank confirmed that Sh283 of the Sh1,000 notes delivered to the court were fake.

Following the discovery of the fake notes, officer Ouma was arrested and charged after Taru OCS Chief Inspector Henry Wesonga told the court that Mr Ouma had custody of the cash and he was the one who took it to court.

Ouma admitted to taking the money to court but denied the charges of stealing the money adding that there was no evidence of the kind of money he was given by an officer in charge of the armory at Taru police station who handed it to him.

Mombasa Resident Magistrate Edgar Kagoni in his ruling acquitted the officer saying that the prosecution failed to give strong evidence and that the money recovered was not serialized.