Kenyan policeman swallows bribe to avoid arrest -TV

NAIROBI, Feb 2 (Reuters) A Kenyan traffic policeman was seen swallowing a bank note to avoid arrest after receiving a bribe in a sting operation by anti-corruption officials, a local television station reported today.

Kenya Television Network (KTN) said anti-graft officials offered money to the policeman when he stopped their car at a police road block, handing over a bill dipped in a chemical.

In an amateur video broadcast by KTN, anti-graft officials were seen in a scuffle with the suspect as they tried to pin him down and retrieve the doctored bank note he had swallowed.

''It has poison. You will die my friend,'' a Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission official was heard saying on the video.

''Why are you eating money that is laced with chemicals? Spit it out.'' KTN said the KACC officials took the policeman to their offices where they took swabs from his mouth as evidence.

Most Kenyans view the country's traffic police as corrupt and accuse them of extorting money from privately owned minibuses, which Kenyans use as mass transit and are often dilapidated and widely blamed for the high rate of traffic fatalities.

REUTERS AB BD1948