A gang of ten men armed with AK47 rifles stormed the Iten County Referral Hospital at midnight on Monday, April 10, and rescued an accomplice who was hospitalized with gunshot wounds.
According to a police report, the patient who was released at midnight was under heavy police protection because he was a suspect.
Officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) were among those protecting him.
“10 police officers drawn from DCI Keiyo North and Iten police station visited the said facility. Four police officers went to the ward to secure the discharge while six others manned the main hospital gate,” the report read in part.
The gang of suspected bandits stormed into Iten Hospital while police were waiting for a vehicle to transport the suspect to a station.
“At about 0210 hours, a group of ten young men, six of whom were armed with AK47 rifles stormed the ward. They smashed windows and managed to rescue the patient from police officers,” the OB No. 02 of 10/04/2023 read in part.
Neither the police officers nor the armed men were injured during the well-planned raid.
There were no gunshots fired, and the medical staff and patients in the facility were unharmed. The police officers attempted but failed to pursue the armed assailants.
The Keiyo North DCI launched a manhunt to apprehend the daring bandits from their hiding places.
Officers in charge of the case are also being investigated.
Cops manning the gate and a number of staff at the facility recorded statements with the police.
Among the questions investigators will try to answer is how the gang members knew when their accomplice would be released from the facility.
The raid occurred in the midst of a police and Kenya Defence Forces operation to eradicate the banditry threat in the North Rift region.
