Nairobi News

Ahmed Rashid, one of Kenya’s infamous police officers for being ruthless and fearful, is set to be charged with extrajudicial killing after he was caught on camera killing two young men on the streets of Eastleigh in Nairobi County in March 2017 on suspicion of being wanted criminals.

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The Independent Policing Oversight Committee investigated the matter and forwarded their findings to the Director of Public Prosecution on November 24, 2022, and recommended that Corporal Ahmed Rashid be charged with the murders of Jamal Mohamed and Mohamed Dhair Kheri .

Here are some things to know about Ahmed Rashid as he prepares to face the law after the Director of Public Prosecution approved the charges:

1. In 2017, he became infamous after being caught on camera gunning down two men on the streets of Eastleigh, a shopping and resident area in Nairobi’s Eastlands area. He did this in front of hundreds of witnesses even as the victims begged for their lives before he shot them dead using two guns. For this shooting, he was investigated by IPOA and is set to be prosecuted for by the DPP.
2. He was quoted by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in a documentary saying that he had to get all profiled criminals terrorizing the areas where he works, whether dead or alive; and there was no compromise in going about it.
3. He was the head of the infamous Pangani Six police squad that ruthlessly dealt with criminals in Pangani, Eastleigh, Mlango Kubwa, Mathare and the environs surrounding the aforementioned estates.
4. He is loved and hated in equal measure by the residents of areas where he patrols. He was credited with single handedly lowering crime levels by eliminating criminal elements and also accused of extra judicially killing young men whose families claimed were not criminals.
5. He was moved from Pangani Police Station following an increase in complaints of how he and his squad operated within Pangani’s environs but was never investigated for allegations of wrong doing.
6. Prior to being appointed the head of the Pangani six squad, he was a Directorate of Criminal Investigations officer in Nairobi and at the height of the Superpower Gang terrorizing residents in Korogocho, Eastleigh, Mathare and its environs, local community powers lobbied for Ahmed Rashid to be transferred to Pangani and head the squad to fight crime.
7. Members of the Eastleigh business community once praised Ahmed Rashid for hunting down and killing thieves; and not taking bribes from them unlike his predecessors. They also lauded how crime levels had reduced in the area once Rashid took over leadership control.
8. He helped set up a car wash business for reformed criminals to earn money for their daily bread. He was quoted saying and was used as an object of fear by families threatening to discipline their wayward children or relatives.

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