Prisoner escapes during police transfer in Suswa after suspected armed rescue

Suspect escape from custody during a transfer from Bomet County to Nairobi. [Courtesy]

Police have launched investigations after a suspect escaped from custody during a transfer from Bomet County to Nairobi.

Authorities believe the escape was a well-coordinated armed rescue in Suswa Township, Narok County.

The late-night incident, which occurred on Saturday along the busy Narok-Mai Mahiu highway, has sparked a search for the fugitive and two armed men suspected of orchestrating the dramatic escape.

According to a police report, the Officer Commanding Station (OCS) at Kapkuen Police Station in Bomet County, Chief Inspector Pius Nduda, was escorting a suspect identified as Robert Rono to Kibra Police Station in Nairobi following a request from  detectives attached to the station.

Rono had earlier been arrested at Kapkuen Police Station over allegations of obtaining money by false pretences through an alleged online mobile phone SIM swapping scheme.

However, the amount of money allegedly lost in the fraud is yet to be established, as detectives in Narok are still awaiting a comprehensive report from their counterparts in Bomet, where the suspect was arrested.

Police said the suspect had been booked out of custody before the journey to Nairobi.

He was handcuffed and seated in the rear of the officer's private Subaru motor vehicle.

The report states that while passing through Suswa Township, the officer slowed down behind another vehicle on the highway when two men allegedly emerged from the roadside armed with what appeared to be firearms.

The two men reportedly confronted the officer before freeing the suspect and fleeing with him into the darkness.

The escapee is said to have left behind one of the handcuffs that had been used to restrain him inside the vehicle.

Officers from Suswa Police Station responded immediately after receiving the report and mounted a search operation in the surrounding area.

However, the suspect and the two alleged accomplices had not been traced by the time the operation was concluded.

Detectives have since opened investigations into the circumstances surrounding the escape, with investigators seeking to establish whether it was a carefully planned rescue by accomplices or whether other factors contributed to the suspect's escape.

Investigators are also expected to reconstruct the suspect's journey from Bomet to Suswa to determine how the alleged rescuers appeared to know the exact route and timing of the transfer.

Narok County Police Commander Patrick Lobolia confirmed the incident, saying detectives were pursuing all available leads.

"Yes, we have such an incident and police officers are working round the clock to piece together all the available information and get to the bottom of the matter," Mr Lobolia said.

The county police boss declined to comment further, saying investigations were still at a preliminary stage.

The incident has been recorded as Pending Under Investigation (PUI) as detectives intensify efforts to rearrest the escaped suspect, identify the two-armed men believed to have facilitated the escape and establish the full circumstances under which the prisoner broke free while in lawful police custody.

The escape is expected to come under scrutiny as investigators seek to determine how the suspected rescue was executed and whether established procedures governing the transfer of suspects were fully complied with.