Two armed police officers assigned to a Meru police station were arrested for allegedly participating in an armed robbery.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the two, sergeant John Lekidayo and constable Kelvin Kinyua, both of Nkubu police station, were arrested after preliminary investigations linked them to an incident on July 13 in which a lorry transporting hardware goods worth Sh600,000 from Isiolo to Tharaka Nithi was blocked at Ura gate area.
According to the crew, the lorry was stopped by four people who identified themselves as police officers and claimed the lorry was transporting counterfeit goods.
The officers handcuffed the lorry driver Morris Nyaga and his two loaders David Kuyo and Bonface Orito.
“The lorry driver, Morris Nyaga, and his two loaders, David Kuyo and Bonface Orito, were handcuffed by the officers one of whom was armed with an AK-47 rifle and bundled into the white Toyota Fielder that had been used to block the lorry, leaving it in the hands of two strangers who had arrived with the two officers turned suspects.
“The vehicle then took off towards Kacibine market in Imenti Central, where the three were later dumped. After reporting the incident at Kiagu police post, investigations began immediately and it was established that the vehicle involved in the incident, belonged to Sergeant Lekidayo,” the DCI said.
Further investigation revealed that Lekidayo was in charge of the armoury on the day of the incident and had given his accomplice Kinyua an AK-47 rifle.
The two officers are then said to have left for unspecified duties that were not booked at the station, raising further suspicions about their whereabouts at the time of the incident.
“Detectives based at the forensic crime scene investigations unit and their cybercrime counterparts have since been invited to conduct forensic analysis and net the remaining suspects,” the DCI added.
Meanwhile, the lorry which had ferried the goods, was found abandoned while empty, indicating that the goods may have been offloaded to another vehicle.
