Five officers who kidnapped Chinese national arraigned in court

Five officers who kidnapped Chinese national arraigned in court

The five police officers and a civilian who were arrested on Friday night at Muthaiga while attempting to extort a bribe from a Chinese national were today (Monday) arraigned before a Thika court.

The five, Job Gitau, Peter Ng’ang’a, Richard Hungi, Jared Mwaniki, Daniel Munyekenye and Laban Waweru, were arraigned before Chief Magistrate Theresa Murigi and charged with one count of attempted extortion at Makongeni, with others not before the court.

According to the charge sheet, on 10th June, the six had attempted to extort a sum of Sh1 million from John Kinyanjui (the complainant) c/o Xin Ton Engineering Limited through threats contrary to sec 300 (1)(a) of the Penal Code so as to release Wei Xian Shun, a Chinese national who they had arrested.

Their lawyer Norman Otieno defended the five officers and appealed for their release on a cash bail or bond saying that they were not involved in the said fraudulent act.

Otieno added that the five were still in active duty and that they had never committed a criminal act before.

State Counsel Stella Oyagi however requested that the six, who included the five officers and a driver, be denied cash bail.

Thika Chief Magistrate Theresa Murigi ordered the six, who denied the charges, be remanded in custody till June 15 when the case would be heard.

Two of the officers are from the Kiambu headquarters’ quick response team, two are regular police officers attached to Railways police headquarters while the last one was an AP attached to Kaloleni Police Station. The civilian was the driver of the Toyota probox that was allegedly used in the mission.

Police in Makongeni trailed the five policemen after receiving reports from the owner of a quarry in the area that one of his employees, an Asian, had been arrested by people who said they were police officers.

The quarry owner suspected that the officers might not be genuine and immediately notified officers attached to Makongeni Police Station who then trailed the five up to Muthaiga Police Station where they entered after realizing that they were being pursued.

Additional reporting by Ann Ngige

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arrested Muthaiga Police Officers Makongeni Thika Court bail Arraigned released Chinese national extort

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