Police Honour Cop Who Returned Tourist's Ksh2.3M Bag At Wilson Airport

The National Police Service (NPS) has celebrated a police officer attached to Wilson Airport along Lang'ata Road in Nairobi who returned a tourist's bag containing over Ksh2 million inside.

In its statement on Friday, November 4, NPS recognised the efforts of Police Constable (PC) Ann Wanjiku Waigwa, who was on duty at the airport when the tourist lost his bag on vacation in the country from the United Kingdom (UK).

The bag, which contained a series of valuables, was found and kept at the airport and the tourist was contacted to collect it with all of its contents intact.

"Police Constable Ann Wanjiku Waigwa, who is currently serving at Wilson Airport perfectly personifies the aforementioned wise words. PC Ann was on duty at Wilson Airport in the company of other airport staff when a tourist dropped a bag containing 19,000 USD, financial cards and other valuables.

"The bag was picked and kept at the airport, after which the tourist was contacted and collected the bag with its contents intact," the NPS stated.

The NPS celebrated her and the colleagues who were on duty on Thursday, November 3 for bringing honour to the police force and the country by an act that embodied the virtues of warmth and honesty that define the Kenyan people.

The tourist was coming from Maasai Mara when he lost the bag at the airport. The money inside was raised by a group of friends who had joined him on vacation in Kenya.

Read his full letter below:

“I am Benson Nickolson from the United Kingdom. I am writing this email to share my experience in Kenya.

I arrived in Kenya with my family for a three-week vacation. I visited various animal conservancies and game parks within Kenya and Tanzania. We travelled by road, SGR and Air interchangeably. As a result, I used various facilities including; Mombasa Airport, Kenyatta Airport, Malindi Airport, Wilson, SGR, Maasai Mara, and Serengeti among others.

I wish to draw your attention to an incident that happened in the middle of our journey in Wilson Airport that had the potential of ruining our lives.

We arrived at Wilson Airport with my entire group from Mara where we were going to the hotel in readiness for the following day’s trip to the coast. We had many bags and luggage and as the central person, I was in charge of all the resources and finances, so I had a substantial amount of cash and plastic money in form of cards that facilitated our movements and comforts.

The bags were brought from the aircraft with a trolley and passengers were allowed to collect their bags. With the help of our rider, we took our bags and headed to the hotel. When we reached the hotel, I noticed one of my bags was missing, coincidentally it was the bag carrying our cash, valuables and cards. I immediately called our rider who had been with us for more than one week.

He checked both vans but could not find the bag. I panicked and asked him to go straight to the airport as I took a cab from the hotel to the airport also. On my way, I called the airline to check if it was left on the plane. They called back regrettably. I asked the airline staff to immediately check the CCTV of the airport, I was shocked to be told that the airport does not have CCTV.

At this stage, I developed temporal insanity as it appeared we had no hopes of recovering the bags. While in traffic around Kenyatta hospital, I got a strange call from +254705211*** where the caller identified himself as Mr Martin, he asked to speak to Mr Benson and I told him roughly that I’m and I was in the middle of something and would call him later.

I thought I was speaking to a porter I met in the Mara whom I gave my local number. He called again and insisted to know my identity and this time he mentioned that he was calling from the Wilson airport security office. I calmed down and told him that I am the one, he told me that a bag was recovered at the pickup point and was trying to trace the owner. I told him with disbelief that I was almost at the airport. I told my driver to drive fast. I arrived at the airport and he directed me to the office where I found him with his supervisor, Mr Joseph and a policewoman. I found my bag and my wallet and cards spread on the table. A long story short, I found my bag and all its content intact.

All the money totalling around 19,000 USD and some thousands of Kenya shillings were all intact. All my cards were found intact. All other valuables which included regalia given to me by my late grandmother were also intact. It was a daydream for me. I called my people in the hotel to break the good news and they insisted to send one of them with a cab to verify the mystery.

Without any CCTV, I could not comprehend how my bag with such valuable items could still be found and that the owner was called to collect it. My brother lost a tenth of that in South Africa where they have a robust CCTV but could get anything.

Therefore, it is not about systems, it is the human factor, the people, and the staff who are the greatest asset. I had no recourse, that was my negligence, but I still got all my stuff and money. My brother arrived from the hotel and I confirmed with tears of joy and shock.

They said our bag was recovered at the pickup point when we collected bags and I dropped the small one. In my country, this is not possible to recover. Only in Kenya, I can assure you.

I am writing this to confirm to the Kenyan Authorities that I will spread this good news all over the world and affirm Kenya as the destination of choice for tourism.

To all persons working with or leading Martin Kammauh, please receive this message of thanks. This is the best experience a customer could have in a foreign land.

Our next holiday was scheduled to another country, we have since reviewed to come back to Kenya due to the experience we got from this official and the team.

We will also sell Nrb airport as the airport of choice to the world.

Finally, allow me to recommend the installation of a CCTV system in the airport for Wilson airport.

Thank you all,

May God bless Mr Martin, Mr Joseph and the policewoman”.

From,

Benson, Family and friends