MP Elachi says police officers captured in viral video taking gas cylinders returned them after demos

Dagoreti North Member of Parliament Beatrice Elachi has come out to dismiss claims that police officers captured in a viral video loading gas cylinders into their vehicle during Wednesday protests were looters.

In an interview on Friday, Elachi clarified that she was aware that the officers were only carrying the cylinders in order to secure them from looters during the demos and not stealing them themselves as most netizens had alleged.

She said that as soon as the demonstrations ended, the officers returned the gas cylinders to the rightful owner.

"The police picked the cylinders and put them in their car and were going to safeguard it and bring it back to the owner," Elachi said in an interview with K24.

Despite the lawmaker acknowledging that some officers may be guilty of such crimes, she confidently allayed fears and the suspicions of the officers looting.

“I am not saying the police do not get into crime, they do, but on this one, they picked those cylinders and have returned them to the owner so it would be unfair," Elachi noted. 

"The police have already returned the gas cylinders to the owner.”

In the clip which circulated online for the better part of Wednesday during the anti-government protests, about four officers were captured loading gas cylinders into their vehicle packed by the roadside.

Some Kenyans on social media would later claim that the officers were stealing the cylinders, with others saying they were only safeguarding them.