The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has lauded Samburu’s Archers OCS Andrew Nyabicha after he turned down a Sh80,000 bribe and handed over the culprits to the commission.
In a statement on Saturday, EACC spokesperson Eric Ngumi said the commission, with the support of the OCS, carried out an investigation and arrested three individuals who attempted to bribe the chief inspector.
“The EACC through its Upper Eastern Regional office in Isiolo, arrested the three who had attempted to bribe the OCS seeking release of a robbery suspect being held at the police cells,” Ngumbi said.
The suspect in custody is accused of robbing three female Ethiopian nationals who had been smuggled into the country using his vehicle on February 23.
“On reaching Ol donyo Sabach hill along the Isiolo-Moyale highway, he diverted to the nearest thicket where he robbed the foreigners of their belongings including mobile phones, an unknown amount of cash and other personal belongings and drove away to Nairobi,” he said.
He said the foreigners were rescued by Good Samaritans who called the multiagency team tasked to deal with human trafficking in the region.
The suspect was then arrested at the same police barrier en route to Moyale from Nairobi and was booked at Archers Police Station to be charged with robbery, forgery and smuggling.
EACC detectives searched his vehicle and found fake travel identification documents, mobile phones and receipts with both Kenyan and Ethiopian transactions.
EACC said some of the mobile phones belonged to the three victims.
He was detained at the Station pending his arraignment.
But the three suspects are said to have approached the OCS with Sh80,000 requesting him to release the suspect unconditionally and waive any intended charges against him.
The OCS immediately filed a complaint with EACC who jointly mounted an operation leading to the arrest of the individuals.
“They were arrested while handing over the money to the OCS,” says EACC.
The suspects were escorted to EACC upper Eastern Regional offices and released on cash bail pending arraignment after completion of the investigations.
EACC commended the OCS for the exemplary action “of refusing to compromise national security at the altar of greed and personal interest.”
