Lamu, Kenya: A police impostor has been arrested in Lamu county as he attempted to access he Administration Police headquarters while armed with a knife.
The imposter was in full police attire when apprehended on Monday night but his mission is yet to be established.
Lamu West OCPD Zachary Kimani identified the man as Salim Mohamed Mayawe and confirmed that he was arrested at 10.00 pm on Monday.
"Our officers who were on patrol at this time of curfew spotted the man who they had initially thought to be a security officer on duty,” he said adding that other officers wondered why an officer would be on patrol alone.
The OCPD however said the officers doubted why the officer was on patrol alone.
He said the imposter was confronted by the officers on patrol who directed him to identify himself.
He however could not identify himself and police arrested him where upon search they recover a knife hid in his waist.
Mr Kimani said police officers demanded him to take them to his house where they recovered AP jungle trousers, shirts, belts, chiefs' ceremonial cloths and a knife.
"The man is dangerous as he has badges of rank for a chief inspector which is a very high rank and could have used that position to conduct a lot of harm to unsuspecting people," explained Kimani adding that they are keen to establish where the suspect got the many uniforms.
The police also recovered assorted women under wears and it is suspected the man is a serial rapist.
It believed that he might have been masquerading to be a senior police officer to solicit sex.
Kimani said that they are treating the case with a lot of seriousness considering that people who attacked Mpeketoni leaving more than 60 people dead were in official police uniform.
He called on people to be on the lookout for such characters and assist the police with the information so that they can get rid of all the police imposters in society.
Businessmen in Lamu Island and Mpeketoni towns had complained of the increased cases of burglary in their premises.
The businessmen have been accusing police officers of engaging in the criminal activity saying there was curfew and so it is only police officers who were patrolling the area at night.
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Kimani said that they cannot rule out the possibility of such impostors conducting the theft.
He said once investigations are over the suspect would be arraigned in court.
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