Five police officers were arrested on Thursday by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) for allegedly extorting money from motorists along the Busia-Kisumu Road, near Busia Town.
The commission confirmed that its detectives conducted the operation following reports of widespread bribery and harassment of motorists in the area.
It added that the arrests were part of an ongoing probe into multiple complaints of entrenched extortion and bribe demands from motorists and Busia residents.
Kenyans.co.ke has learnt that a two-week surveillance operation by the Commission showed the officers actively engaging in constant bribe collection from motorists entering or exiting the border town, with no vehicle checks or other traffic-law enforcement actions.
Additionally, the officers are said to be operating in groups of four or five and maintain a personal vehicle, a Toyota Fielder, believed to be temporarily used to store the collected bribes.
The suspects were apprehended and taken to the EACC Western Regional Offices in Bungoma for further processing and interrogation.
They were later booked at Bungoma Police Station pending further processing on Friday, as of the time of publishing.
Similar Operation
The crackdown mirrors a similar one where the anti-graft agency in August this year arrested four traffic police officers over bribery allegations.
The officers were arrested for reportedly soliciting and receiving bribes from motorists, matatu operators, and truck drivers along the Nairobi–Nyeri–Embu Highway.
Three of the officers arrested during the operation were from Makutano Traffic Base, while the fourth officer was attached to Juja Traffic Base, both in Embu County.
The incidents follow a wave of outcries by motorists who have often lamented about the unusual number of unlawful 'toll points' erected by a section of officers to collect bribes.
According to motorists, the bribes are often in the denominations of Ksh50, Ksh100, Ksh200, and in some instances, the officers allegedly demand higher bribes for minor traffic offenses.
Corruption Survey
A recent survey released by the EACC listed police officers among the most corrupt and unethical professionals in the country, with the police service leading at 47 per cent, followed by county officials.
“An analysis of bribe receivers by profession revealed that police officers (29.93 per cent), National Registration Bureau (19.7 per cent), medical officers (9.53 per cent), officials from the land registry (7.39 per cent), and immigration officers (5.8 per cent) were the most bribe receivers,” the report noted.
