POLICE officers who raided God is Able shop in Matero and allegedly went away with more than K150,000 as part of alleged investigations have been sued.
The store owner, Phillis Sichinga, has filed a lawsuit in the High Court demanding that the officers take back the money because their conduct was allegedly illegal.
Ms Sichinga seeks a declaration that the police misconducted themselves by confiscating K152, 700 and other items and further damages for loss of business, use and value for the money and further compensation for mental anguish and stress suffered.
In the court documents, the businesswoman has sued the police officers through the Attorney General and Inspector General of Police as respondents since they cannot be sued in their individual capacity considering their nature of work.
Ms Sichinga submits that on November 17, 2023, seven armed police officers, one female and seven males, were at her shop investigating a case involving a stolen Samsung phone.
The officers found the Samsung phone in the possession of the plaintiff’s shop keeper of Rwandan origin who confirmed to have had bought it from a known third party.
She submits that afterwards, the officers looted the shop and went inside the main house without a search warrant and restricted the shopkeeper to the sitting room.
The police officers proceeded back to the shop where they misconducted themselves and consumed some drinks from the fridge, she adds.
On top of it all, Ms Sichinga adds that the officers also went away with 40 litres of mineral water, a three door chiller fridge, a D-Jack radio and a Kazang operating machine which had un-transacted K7, 000.
Police officers claimed that the items they got from her shop were stolen, when in fact not.
Ms Sichinga further accused the police officers of having collected an unknown amount of cash from the hands of the shopkeeper before leaving.
“After the officers left, it was discovered that K129, 700 which was kept in one of the rooms searched by the officers was missing and a further K23, 500 which was kept in one of the boxes in the shop from the Kazang transactions was also missing,” the document reads.
The plaintiff submits that she reported the case to Matero Police Station where she learnt that the seven officers were from Chelstone police station.
While at Chelstone Police Station, Ms Sichinga submits that she saw her fridge but was intimidated by the officers who told her that it was confiscated for being a stolen property.
The anguished plaintiff submits that this is despite having shown police receipts for the items they claim were stolen.
(Mwebantu, Wednesday, 27th December, 2023)