Kenya cops open fire to scare anti-graft officers

NAIROBI: Kenyan police helped two colleagues who has been arrested for suspected corruption escape custody by firing warning shots to scare off anti-graft officers holding them.

The two officers, who work for the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, were arrested in Nairobi on Wednesday evening in a sting operation by anti-graft officers trying to trap them with a 100,000 shilling (RM4,085) bribe, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission said on its Twitter feed.

“The two suspects ... were arrested & handcuffed but were rescued by their colleagues from Kabete Police Station who fired several rounds of ammunition as warning shots to facilitate the escape.

“Officers escaped with Kshs 100,000 trap money while handcuffed.”

The absconders were being hunted, it said.

The two officers were wanted in connection with demanding a one million shilling bribe from a foreigner, the agency said.

The police in Kenya are often ranked among the country’s most corrupt institutions, but using force to secure the release of colleagues detained on suspicion of corruption was apparently unprecedented.

Anti-graft NGO Transparency International-Kenya ranked the police force as the most bribery-prone institution in its 2017 East African Bribery Index.

Kenya was ranked 143 out of 180 in the Transparency International 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index. – Reuters