Ex-cop tells court how officers, call girls extort visiting tourists
A former senior detective has exposed how some police officers collude with taxi drivers and local girls to extort from unsuspecting foreigners in the pretext of investigating them over sexual and human trafficking offences.
The former senior detective attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in an explosive affidavit sworn in court, says some of his former colleagues devise framed up charges against foreigners whom they threaten with arrest and prosecution unless they are bribed.
The rogue officers collude with taxi drivers and local girls whom the tourists may have fallen in love with.
The former Divisional Criminal Investigations Officer (DCIO) at Changamwe police station Josiah Njiru, recounted how one of his senior colleagues and some juniors colluded to corruptly demand Sh4million from a German tourist so as not to charge him with the offences of human trafficking or defilement.
In affidavits lodged in court, Njiru gives a blow by blow account of how his counterpart at Moi International Airport in Mombasa Duncan Amwoyo and his three juniors received over Sh500,000 from the German national Stefan Weideneder after attempting to extort Sh4 million from the tourist.
Njiru says he started investigating the matter after the German tourist visited his office very distressed, complaining that three police officers had visited his rented apartment in Nyali area, threatening to arrest him when he had not committed any crime.“I do recall that Stefan did complain that the officers had attempted to solicit a bribe of Sh4 million from him to secure his release,”Njiru says in his affidavit filed in court. The officer, who was allegedly sacked from the National Police Service over investigations into the matter involving allegations of extortion by his colleagues, claims that he was blackmailed and taken through sham internal proceedings and summarily dismissed from the police service.
Vacant rooms
Court papers indicate that Stefan reported to Njiru’s office on August 1, 2022 at around 4pm. Njiru says Stefan reported that he landed at the Moi International Airport in Mombasa on July 30, 2022 where he met with his taxi driver Rodgers Ongige. He says the cab driver was his friend as he had used his services for a long time. They headed to Nyali where he was to meet his girl friend Barbara Isomanga, who was to come with her two friends who needed help for payment of their school fees. They met at an apartment in Nyali where Stefan engaged the girls privately at the balcony, each at a time.
But as he was engaging the second girl, three police officers stormed in and asked Stefan what he was doing with young girls and demanded to arrest him. “So they walked around the room looking for evidence. But all they found was a pizza, chicken and vacant rooms,” Stefan told police in documents submitted in court.
It is at that point the officers allegedly demanded a bribe of Sh4 million, warning that the case was serious and would make him end up in jail for the rest of his life.
He sent them Sh360,000 and gave another Sh80,000 to Rodgers, the taxi driver, to bribe them. His phones were confiscated pending payment of another Sh560,000 as the bribe was to be Sh1million. Stefan later reported the matter to Changamwe police station where Njiru commenced investigations into the allegations that the officers wanted to extort Sh 4 million from the tourist.
After the probe, Njiru instructed his officers to arrest the cops together with their associates including three other police officers. Two other police investigators from Changamwe DCI, police Constable Iddiah Musa and Sergeant Dickson Ngumu claim that their efforts to proceed with the investigations proved futile following orders from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), Anti- Human Trafficking Unit and Child Protection Unit.
In a letter to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the Internal Affairs Unit of NPS, the foreigner wants investigations commenced afresh against the DCIO Moi International Airport and three other police officers over extortion by threats.
