8 police officers, including Gigiri OCPD and OCS, were arrested over the Kware serial killer’s escape; acting IG Masengeli says the probe points to an inside job.
An official reports that the escape of 13 individuals, including a suspected serial killer, from Nairobi police cells has led to the detention of eight police officials.
Gilbert Masengeli, the acting police inspector general, stated that the eight, including the station head, were on duty throughout the escape.
At the Gigiri police station, where the 13 had been detained, he informed reporters, “Our preliminary investigation indicates that the escape was facilitated by insiders.” “Those found guilty will face the full force of the law.”
The discovery of chopped remains at an ancient quarry in Nairobi’s Embakasi South led to the capture of Collins Khalusha, 33, who was one of the escapees.
In July, the police announced that he had admitted to killing 42 women in the previous two years and disposing of their bodies in the quarry, which is a landfill. The police claimed to have taken at least ten sacks containing body parts from the scene.
The chief of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Mohamed Amin, stated at the time, “We are dealing with a vampire, a psychopath.”
However, Khalusha’s counsel, John Ndegwa, claimed that his client had been coerced into testifying when Khalusha was brought before the court last month.
According to a police report, the escape was discovered on Tuesday morning at approximately five in the morning when the station’s canteen manager and commanding officer went to serve the detainees breakfast.
According to the police, Khalusha and the other detainees—Eritreans who were allegedly in Kenya illegally—escaped by scaling a perimeter wall and severing a security wire mesh in a location known as a “basking bay,” where they could get some fresh air.
During his most recent court appearance on Friday, police directed Khalusha to remain in detention for an additional 30 days while they completed their investigation.
Anti-government protests that started in June resulted in the discovery of tens of missing Kenyans.
The discoveries in the quarry, which is located roughly 100 meters across the street from a police station, brought Kenyan police—who have long been suspected of carrying out extrajudicial killings—back into the spotlight.
Human rights organisations and the Independent Police Oversight Authority, a civilian oversight body for law enforcement, have declared that they are looking into the fatalities.
The escapes occur six months after Kenyan Kevin Kangethe, who is wanted in the US for murder, fled barefoot from another Nairobi police station after being allowed to leave his cell to see his attorney. Police apprehended him again a few days later.
Masengeli, the acting inspector general of police, announced that the police have launched a manhunt to locate the 13 missing inmates.
