Two violent robberies unfolding across three counties have again drawn attention to an emerging pattern of rogue police officers crossing county borders to commit crimes against the very civilians they were hired to protect.
On Tuesday morning, a group of Kisumu and Kericho residents killed five suspected robbers, one of whom had a police identification card in his possession.
The five suspected robbers had introduced themselves to Mashambani Farmers’ Cooperative Society treasurer Richard Bala as police officers, just moments after he had walked out of KCB Bank’s Muhoroni branch with Sh1.1 million.
Police have, however, maintained that the ID card found at the scene is a forgery and contains details of two different officers.
Police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga on Wednesday said that the ID card was a forgery, and that the service number indicated on the document belongs to a different police officer based in Kasarani, who is on duty.
A senior officer at Koru police station said they did not have any police officer by the name indicated in the ID found at the scene of the mob justice.
Another police officer, who is not authorised to speak to the press, said that the name on the ID card belongs to a constable based in Busia County.
Spokesperson Nyaga said that investigators have yet to confirm the identities of the suspected robbers.
“We have collected fingerprints for identification and we hope to get the results soon,” Nyaga said.
National Police Service Spokesperson Michael Nyaga Muchiri.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
The robbers on Tuesday forced Bala, who was returning to his workplace, into their vehicle before speeding off towards Kericho.
Several members of the public, including bodaboda riders, who witnessed the incident, gave chase and eventually cornered the suspected robbers and their victim at Koitaburot in Kericho County.
Police responding to the mob justice incident fired their weapons, and one bullet hit Irine Chepkemoi, who was at the scene. She was rushed to hospital, where she is still receiving treatment.
The mob justice incident occurred approximately 24 hours before Kisumu-based police officer Mark Owino lined up in an identification parade intended to confirm whether he was among three men who violently robbed a shopkeeper and three customers in the neighbouring Siaya County.
CCTV footage from the shopkeeper’s premises led police to Owino, who maintains that he was nowhere near Ajigo market when three armed men robbed Ezra Gumbe and three of his customers on February 2.
The CCTV footage had earlier been shared on social media, with users taking screengrabs of one of the attackers.
Some social media users then claimed that the attacker in the screengrab was Owino, a police constable attached to Holo police station in the neighbouring Kisumu County.
While investigators believe that they got their man, Owino maintains that at 11:38 pm on February 2, he had just gotten home after completing night shift duties at Holo police station.
The Siaya Chief Magistrate’s Court allowed police to hold Owino for 14 days pending completion of investigations.
One of the customers was hospitalised after sustaining injuries from assault during the robbery, and will attend another identification parade at a later date.
“I lost approximately Sh140,000 to Sh150,000, judging by my daily sales. We had not fully closed the shop, so the money had not been counted. They also took my phone, my business phone used for M-Pesa, and one of my attendant’s phones,” Gumbe told the police in his statement.
Police believe that Owino was one of the three robbers, and are still on the hunt for two other men believed to be the arrested constable’s accomplices.
Police constable Mark Owino (inset) has denied being near Ajigo market on the night that CCTV footage captured three men violently robbing a shopkeeper and his customers.
In the Tuesday incident, the mob that rescued Bala pulled the five suspected robbers from their vehicle one at a time.
After rounding them up, the mob set them on fire.
At the scene, police officers recovered a police certificate of appointment and handcuffs, triggering suspicion that one or more of the suspected robbers may have been police officers.
Police also recovered a toy pistol resembling a revolver, multiple number plates, a mobile phone and bank slips.
Soin sub-county police commander Lawrence Kasini said it was too soon to confirm or rule out whether any of the suspected robbers was a police officer, as identification through matching of fingerprint samples collected at the scene to the national database was yet to be done.
A witness at the scene where the five men were lynched said that after the men were cornered, one of them pleaded with the public to spare his life and claimed that he was a police officer attached to Koru police station.
Between October and September 2025 alone, 14 police officers and a prison officer have been arrested in connection with grave crimes in which they endangered the lives of the very civilians they swore an oath to protect.
Ten of those arrested are alleged to have committed crimes hundreds of kilometres from the police stations and regions that they are attached to.
Six of the officers arrested at the time were based in Migori County, and are suspects in a robbery with violence case in which businessman Elvis Musyoka was beaten to near death by his attackers, who stole his green Toyota Prado.
Records from the National Council for Law Reporting indicate that the convictions varied from murder, robbery with violence and defilement to bribery and resisting arrest.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has arrested several police officers in connection with bribery.
