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.
Two officers attached to Kiambu Quick Response Team, two regular police officers from The Kenya Railways Police Headquarters Nairobi and one 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.
The five 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 Director of 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 Wawire.
According to 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 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.
Thika police station. Police are looking for two other vehicles used in the mission alongside the three immigration officers who are now at large.