Three police officers from the General Service Unit were charged on Wednesday with kidnapping and robbing a Chinese businessman in Machakos County earlier this month.
The officers, PC Fredrick Mwongela Mwololo, PC Samuel Mwiti and PC Kimwele Musyoki, appeared before the Mavoko Law Courts where they denied the charges and were remanded in custody pending further investigations.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the officers were part of a five-member gang that abducted the victim, whose name was not disclosed, on his way to work on January 8. The gang blocked his car with two vehicles, a taxi and another car, handcuffed him and drove him to Mua Hills in Machakos.
There, the gang’s mastermind, a Chinese national who is still at large, contacted the victim’s family in China and demanded an unspecified amount of ransom, which was wired to a bank account in China. The victim was released after the gang’s accomplices in China confirmed the payment.
The victim reported the incident to the DCI, which launched a forensic probe that traced the two vehicles used in the kidnapping to Mombasa Road. The taxi was found in Rongai and its owner was arrested. He told the police that he had lent his car to a friend, who turned out to be a former employee of the victim’s company and the gang’s mastermind.
The other car was recovered at Mlolongo Police Station, where it had been detained for a traffic offense. The police also established that the three officers had been in constant communication with the mastermind and were present at the scene of the crime.
The DCI said that it was working with Interpol to track down the gang’s accomplices in China and bring them to justice.
