DCI boss Amin refuses to engage as evidence decays on Kiprotich abduction vehicle

DCI boss Mohamed Amin faces scrutiny as forensic evidence in Kiprotich’s abduction vehicle risks fading. [File Courtesy]

The Standard Group has expressed growing frustration over the Directorate of Criminal Investigations' (DCI) refusal to process the vehicle used in the abduction of Associate Editor Alex Kiprotich, even as critical forensic evidence continues to deteriorate.

Despite repeated attempts by the Standard Group to ask the head of DCI to take action, DCI boss Mohamed Amin has refused to allow sleuths to come and lift fingerprints from the vehicle Kiprotich was abducted from. During the abduction, the four heavily armed and masked men left their fingerprints on the windows, doors and windscreen.

According to Standard Group Head of Security Tom Kipyegon, the vehicle remains secured at an undisclosed location, but can lose evidentiary value if it takes long for police to come and lift fingerprints.

"The fingerprints and any other evidence the police need will grow stale if they don't come. And we cannot also keep waiting for them into perpetuity. We must have an end to this thing," Kipyegon told The Standard.

The Standard has reached out to Amin several times, and sources close to him intimated that he had refused to get engaged in the issue.

This comes even as Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja, through Police Spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga, directed the Anti-Abduction Unit to immediately investigate the incident, pledging that the NPS treats kidnapping and abduction with the "utmost seriousness." However, IG Kanja had also promised to send a team, but so far nothing has happened.

So far, no one has spoken to Alex Kiprotich or the management of Standard Group regarding the progress of the investigation.

Our source at the DCI also noted it is laughable when the police talk of an anti-abduction squad.

"The unit was formed after the Gen Z protests. There was a unit that was formed; however, they were never given an office or a budget. Danstan Owino, who was to head the unit, had 20 officers, but after sitting idle, he was moved as a deputy regional investigation officer to one of the regional offices. So forget about any investigations being carried out," he said.