Officers from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on Wednesday, June 14, arrested four traffic police officers accused of extorting motorists along Outering Road in Nairobi.
In a statement, EACC reported that the four traffic police officers had collected a total of Ksh15,820 when EACC sleuths caught up with them.
“At the time of the arrest, the four traffic officers had collected a total of Ksh 15,820 in less than 2 hours. The money was largely in the denominations of 50, 100 and 200 notes,” EACC statement read in part.
The detectives arrested the four after receiving numerous complaints from motorists and commuters using the busy highway.
“EACC undertook this operation following numerous complaints from motorists and members of the public who alleged that of late, they have consistently witnessed traffic police officers openly collecting bribes from private and public service vehicles,” the statement added.
According to the commission, some drivers had also come up with creative ways of handing over the money to traffic police officers by placing notes on strategic places of the vehicle's exterior such as door handles.
Other drivers dropped money on the road for officers to collect.
In extreme cases, some drivers placed the money inside their driving licenses before handing it to the traffic officers for checking.
Other commuters associated regular traffic snarl-ups along the busy road with officers stopping motorists to collect bribes.
The suspects were taken to EACC Integrity Centre Police Station where they were interrogated before release.
“They were later released on police bail of Ksh10,000 each pending the finalisation of the remaining aspects of the investigation including securing concurrence of the Director of Public Prosecutions on the recommendation to arraign them before the Anti-Corruption Court,” the commission explained.
Consequently, the commission emphasised that the police officers risk being suspended if the DPP approved their prosecution as required in law.
The arrests were made at a time when the commission had intensified the fight against corruption across the country, which is one of President William Ruto’s agenda.
