Administration Police (AP) Constable Joash Ombati, who single-handedly pursued two thugs in Nairobi's Westlands area and recovered Ksh 400,000 in October 2018, has been promoted to the rank of Corporal.
Ombati, an officer attached to the Westlands Administrative Police Station, hit the headlines after a video of himself arresting the robbers went viral on social media.
The incident looked like a well-scripted scene from a movie. He ordered the two male suspects to lie on the ground even as an angry mob kept baying for their blood.
“Si wameangusha mtu huko wakaua. Piga ya kichwa. Ua. Gonga risasi uue. Wamalize bana. Nipatie bunduki nipige. Piga risasi bana wataenda kuhongana watoke (They have already killed someone. Shoot them in the head. Kill them. Shoot and kill them. Finish them. Give me the gun I shoot)," the crowd was heard protesting.
However, Ombati remained calm and pleaded with the crowd to leave him alone and let him do his job.
On another occasion in November 2018, the officer single-handedly recovered one sack of cannabis sativa worth Ksh2 million and arrested the suspects.
The feted officer again on September 3, 2018, led others in intercepting a stolen motor vehicle along Waiyaki Way and arrested four suspects.
In March 2018, the same officer, together with a colleague, noticed a commotion in a matatu that was heading to Kangemi, Nairobi, and swung into action saving over 50 passengers from three armed robbers. They recovered two pistols with two rounds of ammunition.
In November the same year, Interior CS Dr Fred Matiang'i awarded him the Distinguished Service Award for his courage in protecting Kenyans.
