Drama as police officers caught taking bribes attempt to fight off their captors – VIDEO
Drama unfolded at the Witeithie Estate Bridge along the busy Thika superhighway when Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) officers pounced and apprehended three traffic police officers who were allegedly taking bribes from motorists.
The Thursday morning incident, which caught the officers by surprise, attracted a big crowd of onlookers as the officers resisted arrest and attempted to brand the six EACC officers as thugs out to abduct them.
Initially, the EACC officers had nabbed five of the six traffic officers manning a road block on the notorious bridge but two who included a female officer managed to flee leaving behind their caps and badges.
The EACC officers had to shoot in the air to scare away a group of officers who had arrived at the scene in an effort to rescue the apprehended suspects.
It took the assistance of the members of the public who helped the EACC officers to load the three officers into their waiting vehicle.
OFFICERS INJURED
Concerted effort by plain clothes colleagues to block the EACC vehicle from ferrying their counterparts hit a snag when members of the public, irked by the happenings, cleared the blockades and allowed the vehicle to speed off.
EACC Deputy CEO Michael Mubea said that two of their officers were injured during the confrontation and were taken to hospital.
The incident was captured on camera by members of the public was later shared in social media.
In another clip made public by NTV’s investigative team, two uniformed Police officers appear to be fighting over a bribe along a busy highway.
Members of the public who sought anonymity told the press that the traffic police officers had become a nuisance as they were always demanding for bribes from motorists and boda boda riders with impunity.
HIDDEN MONEY
A loader said that members of the public broke into a vehicle said to belong to one of the traffic police officers and stole an unknown amount of money that had been stashed in paper bags and hidden under the seats. Also stolen were several clubs and whips found in the officer’s car.
In a huff, the desperate female traffic officer is said to have boarded a Nairobi bound matatu.
Motorists along the highway said the arrests were long overdue as the officers were demanding for money with impunity.
A journalist who happens to live within the estate who was recording the drama incident had his camera confiscated.
Efforts to seek an official comment from the area Traffic Base Commander Michael Lemaiyan were futile as he was said to have gone to Nairobi for an official function.
Additional reporting by Nahashon Musungu