Sacked special squad officers spend weekend in cells

 A section of the officers from the disbanded Special Service Unit in court over the disappearance of two Indians on October 4, 2022. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

The Prisons Department is on the spot for failing to release former officers accused of being behind the disappearance of two Indians and their Kenyan taxi driver despite a High Court order.

The 15 officers were freed on a Sh3 million bond or Sh1 million bail on Wednesday evening by Justice Dola Chepkwony. She upheld a ruling by Kahawa Law Courts Magistrate Gideon Kiage, who had freed them on the same terms on November 10, 2023.

After Kiage’s November 2023 ruling, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) sought to cancel the bond by the High Court. Justice Chepkwony granted the orders on December 5, 2023.

Two of the 15 were from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), while 13 were from the now-disbanded Special Service Unit of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

They are accused of abducting Mohamed Zaid Kidwai and Zulfiqar Khan, both from India and Nicodemus Mwania, from Kenya, on July 22, 2022.

Kidwai and Khan had been at Alchemist Bar in Westlands, Nairobi, and Mwania was taking them home when their Toyota Fielder KCG 335E was intercepted along Mombasa Road, where they were kidnapped, never to be seen again.

Lawyer Clinton Mwale lamented that his clients were victims of an unexplained order that they could not leave prison.

On Friday, their lawyers presented the certified to the Kiambu Prison, where they were turned away. Despite this order, the prison authorities refused to release them, citing orders from above.

The officers were arrested and arraigned at the Kahawa Magistrate court, where they were charged with abduction, but they denied the charges on October 17, 2023.

The matter will be mentioned on December 2.