It was surely a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’. This past November 2025, ivory trafficking charges were withdrawn against three policemen and a Mlolongo businessman. They had been found transporting 29 kilograms of ivory, in a Subaru Legacy (likely a police vehicle), having been tailed by a surveillance team from Eldoret to Kitengela, a distance of 350 kilometres or seven hours driving time on a good day. KWS investigators based in Nairobi made the arrests at a Kitengela petrol station, reportedly with a few tense moments when guns were drawn by two of the suspect policemen.
Policemen committing criminal acts is a common occurrence but Corporal Ben Kiplangat Kipkosgei, Administration Police Constable Richard Kipleting Kuto, and Administration Police Constable Philip Lubanga Adembe, werę not common policemen. Kipkosgei was assigned to the elite Presidential Escort Unit of President William Ruto. Kuto was assgned to the Security of Government Buildings Unit (SGB), and Adembe to the Critical Infrastructure Protection Unit (CIPU). There were several reports that APC Kuto was providing security for a high level Eldoret politician reported to be Oscar Sudi, a close confidant of the President.
The charges were withdrawn by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions at the Kahawa Law Courts on November 20th, 2025, before Principal Magistrate Gideon Kiage.
Attempts to establish the exact reasons for the dropped charges were not successful. An anonymous and unconfirmed report indicated that there had been a lack of evidence. That is a ambiguous catch all, typically used when the actual facts are unpalatable to the public.
Judging from the Kenyan Judiciary’s public E-filing system that tracks case progress, it is indicated that of the 30 scheduled sittings since June 2024, there were few, if any, occasions where witness testimony was heard.
While there is no evidence to suggest any impropriety in the withdrawing of this matter beyond factors related to rule of law, there would be not one Kenyan who would believe that it did not involve a higher deity of the political persuasion.
The Presidential Escort Unit, with some similarities to the U.S. Secret Service, falls under the authority of the National Police Service and is described as an elite unit responsible for protecting Kenya’s President, Deputy President, their families, retired presidents, and visiting heads of state and/or dignitaries.
The PEU is reported to have 200 officers attached to the President and another 45 attached to the Deputy President.
A story published a few days after the arrest reported that the PEU officer, Cpl. Ben Kiplangat Kipkosgei, as having a ” maisonette nearing completion and an apartment under construction in Syokimau” and led “a lavish lifestyle including driving a luxury land rover that is the envy of his colleagues.”
The same report stated that:
- the three policemen and businessman Charles Nzuki Mutua were “believed to be part of a network of criminals dealing with ivory within East Africa.”
- The investigations revealed “the names of some high profile individuals within government including an MP.”
- Phone data between the officers and associates were “traced to neighbouring countries such as Tanzania and DRC.”
It is not common for charges to be withdrawn in ivory trafficking cases. According to SEEJ-AFRICA records, the last time an ivory trafficking charge was withdrawn was in September 2024, when charges were dropped against a Nakuru policeman, Ben Muiru Mwangi, for reasons never established.
This is not the first time that police officers connected to high levels politicians have been found with ivory.
In February 2016, four policemen were arrested while in the process of selling a 5 kg ivory tusk from their government Land Cruiser Prado to an undercover KWS buyer. Peter Kuria Kimunyu, bodyguard of NARC leader Martha Karua, negotiated with the KWS ‘buyer’, and Francis Kioi Karanja, the driver for the Minister of the Interior, Fred Matiang’i, presented the hidden tusk. The vehicle from which they were conducting the transaction was assigned to the Principal Administrative Secretary to the Office of the President, Kennedy Kihara. Martin Mwiti Marangu was one of his assigned drivers and Stephen Chege Ngawai was a bodyguard. After trial they were convicted and sentenced to a 20 million shilling fine or in lieu, life imprisonment. On appeal, the conviction was upheld but the penalty reduced to a 1 million shilling fine (USD $10,000) or in lieu 5 years imprisonment.
In November 2017, Mongabay published an article, “Four senior politicians investigated for wildlife trafficking” that included interviews with the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keriako Tobiko, and a senior DCI investigator. It detailed how three sitting Governors, Mike Mbuvi Sonko, Anne Waiguru and Ferdinand Waitutu, were under investigation for involvement in the trafficking of wildlife trophies to fund their election war chests (The story was retracted within days for ‘inconsistencies’.) There has never been any indication that the reported investigation bore fruit although Sonko and Waitutu were both impeached and removed from office in 2020 for integrity issues.
In 2024, between the months of May and August, seven police officers were arrested for trafficking ivory in four seperate incidents.
More case background can be found at https://www.seej-africa.org/2024/07/12/e071-24-kahawa-r-vs-richard-kipleting-kuto-cpl-ben-kipkosgei-kiplangat-charles-nzuki-mutua-philip-lubanga-adembe-29-kg-ivory/
