Bururi: a police officer and an administrative official detained for extortion

Alexis Nimpagaritse, local leader in Bururi neighborhood in the provincial capital of Bururi (southern Burundi) and an agent of the Burundi national police were arrested this Wednesday. They are held in the cells of the provincial police station.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The two men targeted local traders. According to the accounts of certain victims of this racket, Alexis Nimpagaritse posed as a provincial officer of the SNR (National Intelligence Service) before “stripping us of our money and our goods”.

It was the local police who arrested them following complaints from residents and traders. An investigation into this has been opened, the police adds.

Two other suspects escaped. They are a young man and a woman, according to the Bururi police. Police sources confirm that they are also wanted.

But residents are demanding local authorities and police to be more strict and vigilant.

“Recently, extortion has become commonplace in the Bururi market and its surroundings,” lament residents who spoke to SOS Médias Burundi.

They accuse the Imbonerakure (members of the CNDD-FDD youth league) of “racketing people, especially people who get up very early to participate in morning prayers or go to work.”

“They make the rain and the good weather,” they accuse.

Administrative and police officials had not yet reacted to these allegations until the publication of this article.

Last year, several people died in the capital of Bururi and its surroundings in machete attacks between May and June, which worried the government which sent the minister in charge of internal affairs there, Martin Niteretse. After his visit, many suspects were arrested and tried. Some were provisionally released due to lack of evidence, leading to the imprisonment of three provincial court judges. The Bururi Court of Appeal acquitted them late last March.

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