A police officer is missing after students turned on a team investigating suspected exam cheating in Kisii County. The attack happened on Thursday at Nyabisase Mixed Secondary School. Officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) and the National Intelligence Service (NIS) had gone to the school after reports of irregularities.
Police said a KNEC official, Gioko Kanyi, alerted authorities to the alleged malpractice, the Eastleigh Voice reported. Kenyans.co.ke said the official had been invigilating exams at the school. On arrival, investigators reportedly found a laptop hidden behind the school's administration offices. They called DCI officers based in Nyamache to come and help.
Before the detectives arrived, students allegedly became rowdy and attacked the police officers and KNEC officials. They reportedly seized a Toyota Succeed belonging to Corporal Leonard Siele. The car was badly damaged, and personal belongings inside it were stolen.
Siele was reportedly seriously assaulted during the confrontation and has since gone missing. "Efforts to establish his whereabouts are ongoing," the police said, according to the Eastleigh Voice. The monitoring team also included Inspector of Police Peterson Amimo, Constable Edward Onyango and an intelligence officer.
The incident came during the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams. Kenyans.co.ke reported that KNEC has deployed monitoring teams to exam centres nationwide. Their job is to stop cheating and unauthorised access to exam materials.
DCI detectives from Nyamache have visited the scene. Police are investigating the suspected cheating, the attack on the team, the destruction of property and the officer's disappearance.