Cars rotting in police yards to be auctioned

Police will auction thousands of cars abandoned in police stations across the country following a directive from the Interior ministry.

Police stations in Nyeri County have already started collecting inventory on vehicles lying unclaimed in exhibit yards which could be sold off in a year.

Last week, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said an administrative forfeiture is in the offing giving owners of vehicles at police stations six months to claim them.

Nyeri County police boss Ali Nuno said the exercise is meant to clean up police stations, adding this will also affect lost and found items as well as exhibits whose cases have been closed.

“It is a normal clean up exercise and we are already collecting inventory on the items. The exercise is at an advanced stage. We are going back to our records on how these items ended up here and the progress of cases related to them,” Mr Nuno said.

A spot check around police stations in Nyeri County revealed that hundreds of vehicles have over years been reduced to rusty metal shells with nobody to claim them.

While most of them are road accident wreckages, a big chunk was impounded for involvement in crime ranging from robberies, murder and trafficking illegal and contraband goods. Those involved in crime are treated as exhibits.