Following investigations into a complaint received from a member of the public on Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) arrested two Regular Police officers namely PC Raphael Nzioka (No. 67335) and PC Nancy Kerubo (No. 245796), based in Eastleigh North Police Station, Starehe Sub-County.
The two were apprehended in the evening of Thursday, October 19 for extorting money and goods from a local businessman operating a mobile phone shop in Nairobi CBD.
The suspects reportedly visited the complainant’s shop and confiscated the complainant’s stock of mobile phones valued at Ksh300,000 without any justifiable cause and went away with it.
Subsequently, the officers demanded a bribe of Ksh100,000 from the complainant in order to return the confiscated stock of mobile phones prompting the trader to seek help from the Commission.
Upon verification of the allegations, EACC detectives mounted an operation leading to the arrest of the two police officers while receiving the demanded bribe.
The Commission is increasingly receiving reports of outright extortion by police officers who are not investigating anything touching on the victims.
The emerging trend shows that it is no longer bribery to forbear law enforcement action, but pure extortion of money from citizens who are not facing any legitimate accusation of violating the law.
To mitigate this menace and alleviate the pain visited upon citizens by such incidents, EACC expects Police Commanders at all levels to take up the responsibility of ensuring that officers under their command refrain from such despicable acts that are not only criminal but also immoral.
