DCI begins probe after woman claims Kasarani police officers took Ksh.100K bribe to drop her case

The Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Amin Mohamed has now instituted a team to investigate a case involving a woman who flew from Saudi Arabia to follow up on Ksh.300,000 sent to the wrong number, only to allegedly be conned by officers at the Kasarani Police Station.

In a rejoinder to a viral TikTok video posted on X by user Bon Macharia on Friday, the DCI said the Kasarani Sub-County Criminal Investigations Officer (SCCIO) had been tasked to probe the incident and a report on the status of investigations would be shared later.

“Hello @bon_macharia The Director DCI has directed the Sub-County Criminal Investigations Officer (SCCIO/DCIO) at Kasarani to fast-track investigations into these allegations and report on the same. We shall share the position of the matter including the action taken soon,” stated the DCI.

In the video, a woman identified as Irene claimed she was sending Ksh.300,000 to her family, but mistakenly sent it to the wrong M-Pesa number.

She resolved to fly back to Kenya from the Gulf nation to try and recover the amount and filed a report at the Kasarani Police Station DCI offices.

The seemingly dejected woman then alleges that two officers by the names of Lucy Mbithe Munyambu and Nderitu received the complaint, then shortly traced the number and informed her that they already knew where the suspect was and reassured her that she would recover her money.

She was then told to go home and await an update from them. To her utter dismay, Irene alleged that she was called by DCI Lucy and told to send Ksh.20,000 to fuel the police car, and later another Ksh.3,000 to hire a cab since the destination of the suspect could not be accessed by the official vehicle.

“Nilitoa 20K ambayo DCI Kasarani Lucy Mbithe Munyambu told me would be used to fuel the police vehicle at the station since it was out of gas. I then sent her Ksh.20,000,” Irene said in the video.

“The day they went to arrest the person, Lucy directly texted me and sent me a mobile number, where I was supposed to deposit another Ksh.3,000.  She said she would pay for a cab since the police vehicle could not reach the required destination. I sent the money.”

Irene goes on to say that she later realized this was all a hoax since the number she had sent the money for a taxi reportedly belonged to yet another DCI officer who had accompanied them on the trip.

Regarding the recovery of the money, Irene says she was forced to give up since the suspect allegedly paid off the DCI officers with Ksh.100,000 of the money, after which they released him.

The man would later call her and issue threats, forcing Lucy to block his number and that of the DCI officers after they became rude to her.

“The suspect was released a few minutes and he called me via WhatsApp and threatened me that nitajua yeye ni mwanaume. He hung up and forwarded a message where he had sent DCI Lucy Ksh.22,100. I then called Lucy and demanded to know why they had freed the suspect but she was rude and told me that yeye ni mtu mzima si mtoto,” she explained.

Hello @bon_macharia. The Director DCI has directed the Sub-County Criminal Investigations Officer (SCCIO/DCIO) at Kasarani to fast track investigations into these allegations and report on the same. We shall share the position of the matter including the action taken soon.— DCI KENYA (@DCI_Kenya) February 23, 2024