How armed police officers unleashed terror on merrymakers in Kayole pubs – VIDEO
It’s around 9pm on Sunday night and revelers in Kayole are still indulging as they unwind the evening.
Martin Muriithi is catching up with three friends at Spider Club after a long week of hustling on the streets of Nairobi.
LOUD BANG
All of them are casual workers and Sunday is their only free day.
Muriithi is on his second drink when they suddenly hear a loud bang on the door of the club.
“The next thing we heard were screams from outside and at first I thought it was a robbery. We left our beers on the table and tried to run outside but three well-built men entered the club,” Muriithi narrated.
What followed was an hour-long harassment and intimidation of revelers and employees at Spider Club and another one by the name Kisima.
Strangely, the assailants turned out to be police officers.
STOLEN CASH
The incident was captured on CCTV footage which showed the officers – some in plainclothes and others in uniform – breaking beer bottles and destroying furniture inside the two bars.
“They didn’t ask for anything, they just started kicking everything around them, went straight to the counter and started throwing beer bottles all over the place,” one of the reveler told Nairobi News.
In one of the bars, it is alleged that the officers made away with some unknown amount of money.
“They asked for the day’s sale but we said we did not know where the money was kept. One of the cops hit me and went straight inside where we kept the money and got cash from there. His colleagues poured water all over us and told us to shut up when we tried screaming. They said they won’t hesitate to use their guns if the need arose,” said one employee.
ARRESTED
The officers arrested several patrons and employees of the two bars who were first taken to Kasarani Police Station before they were transferred to City Hall on Monday morning.
They spent two hours doing community work for being drunk the previous night.
Speaking to Nairobi News Kayole OCPD Henry Kosgey, said he was aware there was an operation to crack down on bars operating illegally but was shocked with the manner the operation was carried out.
The incident happened just a day after three Kayole based police officers were arrested in Eastleigh after they robbed two businessmen of Sh6 million at gunpoint.
Some Sh3.5 million was recovered while two suspects, who are still at large, are said to have made away with the remaining loot.