Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kithure Kindiki on Wednesday, April 12 explained why police did not take action to prevent a suspected bandit from being rescued from Iten Referral Hospital by a gang of 10 gunmen.
While appearing before the National Assembly, Kindiki revealed that the bandit had sought medical assistance from the hospital after he suffered a gunshot wound, but did not disclose where, or how he was shot.
The Interior CS also confirmed a police report, which revealed that the bandit was under heavy police protection, with officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) assigned to protect him.
According to Kindiki, the gang of ten men gained access to the facility through the fence on a bandit rescue mission, avoiding a potential shootout by police officers who were unable to act due to the presence of patients, who would have been killed in the gun battle.
“There was an incident at Iten Hospital, the person involved is a suspected bandit because he had bullet wounds and he could not explain where he was shot and he just came to look for treatment and we believe the people who came to rescue him were criminals because they came through the fence of the hospital so they just came perhaps to rescue one of their own who was hurt and could not explain.
“The reason why that happened notwithstanding the presence of a few police officers who were on-site at that time was the determination by the Commanding Officer on-site that a shootout inside that facility would have caused fatalities on patients. That gave leeway for the rescue to succeed,” he stated.
The Interior boss said the bandit – identified as Dennis Kemboi – who was rescued has been on police radar for a while, promising that he will be arrested soon.
“I want to confirm to the House, through you, Mr. Speaker, that this person has been on police radar even before this attack. We are on him, we have some leads, we believe we shall arrest him as soon as possible,” he told National Assembly Speaker, Moses Wetangula.
During the raid, six of the men armed with AK47 rifles had joined the group of 10 gunmen who invaded the ward and escaped with the patient, away from the watchful eyes of the police officers. None of the police officers nor the armed men sustained any injury during the well-organised raid.
“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.
