Nasa security agents detain then release ‘police officers’

Two individuals believed to be police officers who had been arrested and detained by Nasa security agents at their tallying centre in Runda were released in unclear circumstances after almost 45 minutes in custody.

Joseph Shimekha, who chairs the Nasa board responsible for coordination of agents, said that the two men infiltrated journalists who had come to cover a press conference and pretended to be media people.

"We noticed that amongst the journalists, there were two suspicious characters who had gained access. I confronted them but realised they were not journalists because they were armed.

IDENTIFICATION

“An argument ensued but we managed to hand them over to our security officers manning the gate and alerted our legal team. They managed to produce their identification document showing they are indeed police officers from the DCI Gigiri," Mr Shimekha said at the tallying centre.

Earlier on Mr David Ndii had confirmed the incident during his address to journalists but did not provide more details.

"Sneaking into private property with intention of patrolling and snooping around is illegal. They claimed they were not armed but this shows their intentions are bad. This is supposed to be a political competition not a security issue because what we are doing is not illegal," he said.

DRIVEN AWAY

But the officers were let go in unclear circumstances.

They were driven away from a neighbouring compound, where they had been taken to, in two Subaru Forester cars.

However, Mr Shimekha said that Nasa will take extra measures to ensure their work is not frustrated by government agents including the police.

Just moments after this assurance, the tallying staff at the facility were whisked from the building in different cars together with their materials to an unknown destination.