By Augustine Ehikioya
For refusing to register mobile sim cards newly bought by 3 escaping terror convicts who failed to show their national identification documents, Police officials in Kenya have commended the action of a shop attendant.
The shop attendant was also said to have refused to comply after the terrorists tried to bribe him with monetary reward.
This was contained in a statement by Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), and made available on Monday to Security Watch Africa (SWA).
It said “As investigations into how the three terror convicts made their daring escape from Kamiti Maximum Security Prison intensify, detectives have gathered crucial details into how the three who have since been arrested attempted to establish contact with their counterparts in the underworld.
“Immediately after their arrival in Machakos, the convicts had refreshed, taken breakfast and bought caps to conceal their faces, in readiness for the rest of their journey.
“They had also bought two mobile phones and were attempting to register SIM cards, when the actions of a selfless, patriotic shop attendant jeopardized their plans and saved the country immeasurably.
“The convicts who did not have Identity Cards had prevailed upon a shop attendant to sell and register them SIM cards, but the shop attendant would hear none of it.
“They pleaded with the attendant to facilitate them at a fee but the attendant was adamant that unless they produced their national identification documents, then no help would come their way.
“It is the simple actions of the shop attendant that the Directorate of Criminal Investigations celebrates tonight. The attendant’s refusal to make illegal and illegitimate profit saved the country in a big way,” it said.
The decision to do what is right regardless of the incentive being offered, the statement noted, not only demonstrated the attendant’s steadfastness but also his fidelity to the law even when nobody was watching.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations, according to the statement, also urged all Kenyans to emulate “this great example, no matter how sweet the deal may be.
“To the shop attendant in Machakos who chose to do what is right instead of making quick profit, we celebrate you,” the statement concluded.