The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on Saturday evening arrested Ruai Police Station OCS Duncan Ochieng over demanding bribes to release persons he had locked up in police cells from the previous day, on accusations of being drunk and disorderly.
EACC in a statement on Sunday said the OCS was arrested after the relatives of one of the detained revelers complained to the commision.
“EACC detectives apprehended the OCS after investigations into a complaint received from relatives of some of the detained revellers that on Friday night, police officers from Ruai Police Station visited a Club called Fun City in the Utawala and arbitrarily arrested the revelers allegedly without any reasonable cause,” read the statement in part.
According to EACC The revelers were taken to Ruai Police Station where they were put in police cells after the OCS ordered each of them to pay him Ksh5,000 bribe in order to be released unconditionally.
The OCS is reported to havd told the detainees that failure to pay the demanded amount would see each of them spend the entire weekend in police cells and face criminal charges of being drunk and disorderly, on Monday.
“Upon verification of the claims, EACC detectives mounted an operation leading to the arrest of the OCS while he continued to receive the demanded bribes,” EACC stated.
The OCS was processed at Integrity Centre Police Station and is currently detained at Kilimani Police Station awaiting further action in accordance with the law.
CEO Twalib Mbarak while confirming the arrest expressed concern that the Commission continues to receive many complaints of this nature where Officers Commanding Police Stations (OCSs) are locking up citizens, especially young people, then demanding bribes from them as a condition for release from custody.
Mr. Mbarak noted that in some cases, persons are reportedly put in police cells without being booked for any offense in the Occurrence Book (OB) and later compelled to pay bribes in order to freedom.
He also appreciated that citizens are increasingly reporting such cases of extortion by police to the EACC instead of succumbing to bribe demands and urged Kenyans to equally embrace the culture of obeying the law in all situations.
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