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Former Cabinet Secretary Raphael Tuju has been arrested hours after resurfacing from an alleged abduction scare, with his lawyers’ saying officers forced him into a vehicle at Karen Police Station without recording his arrest in the occurrence book.

Tuju had gone to Karen Police Station on Monday, accompanied by Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, DAP-K party leader Eugene Wamalwa and former Attorney General Justin Muturi to record a statement about Saturday’s incident, in which he said he abandoned his vehicle and fled after noticing he was being followed by an unmarked vehicle.

His legal team, led by Paul Nyamodi and Law Society of Kenya (LSK) past president PLO Lumumba, said officers forced Tuju into a Subaru at the station, without booking him into the occurrence book.

“He is being arrested without an OB,” his lawyers said.

Media were blocked from accessing Karen Police Station as the drama unfolded.

The arrest came hours after Tuju broke his silence at a press conference, where he said he had eluded pursuers in Karen by turning into Nadi Road, before abandoning his vehicle and taking shelter with a family at the Nairobi-Kiambu boundary.

“They didn’t get me,” he had said earlier in the day.

His driver, Steve Mwanga, who was with him when the incident occurred on Saturday evening, March 21, remains missing.

Tuju said he had filed a police report at Karen Police Station on Friday, March 21, citing concerns that a Toyota Land Cruiser without number plates had been trailing him. The following evening, the same vehicle reappeared as he drove towards the Karen roundabout for a scheduled radio interview.

“By the time I reached Karen roundabout, they’d already closed in. And now they’re definitely making sure that I’m back to back,” he noted at the press conference.

He said he used his knowledge of Karen roads to shake off the vehicle by turning into Nadi Road, forcing pursuers to either face oncoming traffic or take a longer detour.

“I lost them,” he added.

Tuju said he then sought refuge with a family at the Nairobi-Kiambu boundary, remaining there until past midnight before returning home.

He said he did not go to a police station at the time because he did not trust the police, citing a March 13 raid on his Dari Business Park property in which officers arrived without number plates on their vehicles and without a court order.

“The police themselves have been to my place without plate numbers on their vehicles. How do you go to report?” charged Tuju.

He warned that Kenyans face danger without protection, invoking names of people he said had been killed or forcibly disappeared.

“Kenyans have been slaughtered like chicken. You have absolutely no protection,” he warned.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) had launched a probe into his disappearance after his family filed a missing person report at Karen Police Station on Sunday. His vehicle was found abandoned along Miotoni Lane with its hazard lights on, and crime scene investigators processed the scene before towing the car to Karen Police Station for forensic examination.

Tuju’s ordeal unfolds amid a legal dispute over the ownership of Dari Business Park in Karen, linked to a loan of Sh1.9 billion borrowed from the East African Development Bank (EADB).

The Commercial Court on March 18 declined to grant temporary orders sought by Tuju to block the auction of the property, directing that the matter be heard on a priority basis with a hearing set for April 7.