Prison warder arrested for allegedly impersonating IG Boinnet

Police in Kisumu have arrested a prison warder who allegedly impersonated Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnet.

The warder, identified as Bevil Ogeda Ouko and attached to the Kibos Main Prison, was also found with a phone with a SIM card number registered in the name of "Joseph K. Boinet".

On Friday, police said the suspect was arrested at 1.30pm on Thursday as he was preparing to board a bus at the Kisumu Bus Park.

“The suspect has alleged that the phone he had was sold to him by one Sylvanus Sienya, a tout at the bus station, who has also been arrested,” National Police Service spokesperson George Kinoti said in a statement.

Mr Kinoti said the suspect was escorted with the assistance of prison authorities to the prison’s Block B Cell number 21, where another phone that belonged to the warder was found with a robbery convict named as "Davy".

“Thirty-eight SIM cards, five mobile phones and 20 rolls of bhang were recovered from the convict,” the statement said.

Mr Kinoti said the suspect had been creating false Facebook pages bearing the names of senior government officials and collaborated with convicts to defraud the public.

Police also suspect the warder had defrauded or attempted to defraud several people through false recruitment and employment.

“He had been using the number 0722919125 registered under the IGP’s name for illegal activities. He also has an alternative number — 0721488589 — that he had at the time of the arrest,” Mr Kinoti said.

The police have appealed to people who may have fallen victim to the fraud to report to police stations in Kisumu or elsewhere.