The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) detectives on Monday neutralized three armed thugs posing as traffic officers in Mukuyuni area in Machakos County.
The incident, which took place along Machakos-Kitui road, saw the police rescue a United Nations (UN) official who had allegedly been kidnapped and was handcuffed.
According to a statement issued by the DCI on Twitter, the three men were in a group of five men who opened fire when the police approached them.
The thugs reportedly refused to surrender prompting the police to fire at them.
Unfortunately, two of the suspects managed to escape. The police launched a manhunt to try and nab them.
A pistol, several rounds of ammunition, traffic police uniform and a vehicle that the suspects were using were recovered from the scene of the crime.
Earlier in the day, two DCI detectives from the Parklands found themselves in drama after they were disarmed at gunpoint by fellow police officers at a roadblock in Kitengela.
The detectives had impounded a truck along the Nairobi-Namanga highway after they found it transporting contraband ethanol.
One sleuth is said to have boarded the truck while the other followed behind in an unmarked car and when they arrived at the roadblock they were stopped.
Despite efforts to explain the situation, the officers at the roadblock heard none of it.
The truck was impounded after the documents indicated that the driver was transporting maize while in fact the truck was loaded with ethanol from Tanzania.
