KENYA – Pupils walking school on Tuesday morning found an abandoned government-issued G3 rifle by the roadside which is said to have been left by a drunk police officer.

The G3 rifle (s/no KE AP A04334A) was found unattended along the Kisumu-Kakamega Highway by three pupils who were heading to Shikondi Primary School. The learners took the rifle which was loaded with 20 rounds of ammunition to Ikolomani Patrol Base.

Police officers from Ikolomani Patrol Base accompanied the said pupils to the scene and established from the members of the public that there were unknown police spotted along the road walking while staggering and later seen boarding a boda boda headed towards Sigalagala.

“We got information that the said officer had been spotted around Mukumu Boys School staggering along the road after someone had picked and dropped him at Sigalagala stage,” the police said in a report.

Fellow police officers later tracked and got hold of the said officer. According to the police, the officer first identified himself as Cpl Ochego but later identified himself as constable Edwin Japheth Owino from Vihiga Prisons and he had been deployed at Mukulusu Primary School in Kakamega East to cover the just concluded Kakamega gubernatorial elections.

He was taken into custody as the police launched investigations into the incident.

Last month, a police officer lost his pistol and a magazine loaded with 15 rounds of 9mm ammunition following a bar brawl in the city. The incident happened over an unpaid bill in a bar on Mirema Drive in Kasarani.

Inspector Fredrick Mzungu attached to Jogoo Police Station and Inspector Kelvin Mwangi of Kileleshwa police station had gone to Paris Lounge and Grill while accompanied by four others for refreshments when a fight broke out over who was to settle the Sh1,200 bill.

Earlier this month, a junior police officer was arrested after he reported to authorities he had lost his pistol while riding on a motorcycle in Nairobi. The officer reported that he lost the pistol with 14 bullets after it dropped off a holster as he rode on a motorcycle.