Lang’ata women prison: Warder arrested for stealing a motorcycle
By Hilary KimuyuOn Monday 31, a Prison Warder attached to Lang’ata Women’s Prison was arrested for allegedly stealing a motorcycle.
The warder, identified as Graham Hadejji, was arrested with Tutus Nyamori, a civilian, and detained at Mokengeni police station pending arraignment.
Police said the two would be charged with motorcycle theft under section 278A and handling stolen goods under section 322(1) of the penal code.
Last year, a former warder was arrested alongside two other officers for harassing a rider and impounding his motorcycle along City Hall Way in the Nairobi city center and reportedly demanded a bribe for them to release it.
The arrests come amid rising cases of fake and former officers masquerading as police officers and harassing and extorting unsuspecting members of the public.
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In March 2021, a fake cop identified as Gregory Simiyu was arrested while dressed in full police uniform while conducting self-assigned night patrols in Lang’ata area, Nairobi.
Police said the 40-year-old was donning uniforms belonging to an Administration Police officer and after his arrest, police said he was part of a gang that has been posing as police officers and stealing from members of the public.
Police expressed surprise at how the suspect was comfortably operating outside, including past curfew hours, as he was arrested a few minutes past midnight.
“He was obtaining money from members of the public as he harassed them and in some cases, he even stole from civilians,” former Langa’ata police boss Benjamin Mwanthi then.
In another case, Wycliffe Vincent Oduor, a suspect in an Sh72 million bank heist at Standard Chartered bank in Nairobi West, was shot by police following a reported robbery in Kayole, Nairobi, in 2019.
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However, neighbours said Oduor was not a police officer but had access to a uniform and guns and was picked by plain-clothed officers from a barber shop and shot dead in cold blood.
He reportedly dined and struck deals with police officers before the bank heist, and on his death, police said he was part of a three-person gang that fled the scene using a motorbike.
In July 2020, police in Kayole nabbed seven civilians who were reported to be harassing members of the public while posing as police officers with radio calls and effecting arrests.
Still, in August 2020, Augustine Khakhina Okumu was charged in court for arresting city residents who urinated on walls and fences.
Okumu was charged with impersonation after he was arrested on Ronald Ngala Street while forcing two men he had illegally handcuffed to board a private vehicle.
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In the same month, police in Buruburu arrested Stanley Maina alias Francis Kangethe for conning members of the public by purporting to be investigating cases against them.
He was charged at the Makadara law courts with five counts of obtaining cash by false pretences and also impersonating a police officer.
Nairobi News has established that such officers are usually charged with being in unlawful possession of government stores contrary to Section 324 (2) and also impersonating a police officer which is contrary to Section 101 (1)(b) of the National Police Service Act.
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