Former ‘Nation’ reporter kidnapped, tortured and robbed by ‘police’
A former Nation sports journalist was on Saturday afternoon kidnapped, tortured and beaten senseless before being dumped near Kamiti Maximum Prison by people who claimed to be police officers.
It all started when Isaac Swila, who is a sports reporter and commentator, went to withdraw money at the Co-operative Bank TRM branch in the company of his cousin.
After withdrawing the money, they were accosted by four middle aged men who identified themselves as police officers from the dreaded Kwekwe Squad complete with police identification cards.
The two were bundled into a white saloon car, handcuffed and beaten up using metal rods and fists.
“They nearly strangled me to death and warned me of dire consequences if I ever reported the incident,” the journalist said.
“Equally frightening is the fact that our kidnappers – four middle aged men, armed with pistol, bullets, metal rod and police identification card – told us that they were indeed officers from the dreaded Kwekwe Squad,” he added.
ROBBED OF CASH
The ‘police’ dumped them near Kamiti Maximum Prison at around 2pm after robbing the of cash, mobile phones and an ATM card.
Luckily, they got help from a Good Samaritan but their traumatising ordeal was far from over. When they reported the matter at Kasarani Police Station, officers on duty were reluctant to take their statement.
“To our utter shock, when we went to report the matter at Kasarani Police Station, no officer was willing to help. I bet the self-confessed Kwekwe squad were still trailing us because while at the station trying to figure if we could have our statements taken, we were confronted by three thuggish young men (of around my age) who wanted to ascertain whether we had been beaten up by police officers and whether we had captured the car number plate,” the journalist recounted.
The journalist was treated at Nairobi Hospital and is recovering but still traumatised from the ordeal. The journalist said he is now fearing for his life since the assailants have his phone which has all his contacts.
We at Nairobi News wish them a quick recovery and hope the police will follow up the matter and arrest the culprits.