Ethiopia: Three arrested for stealing and illegal use of riot police uniforms

ESAT News (January 1, 2018)

Three people were arrested in Ambo town, west of the capital Addis Ababa for stealing and illegal use of riot police uniforms, local media reported over the weekend.

The three individuals were also accused of robbery and of beating and inflicting injury to a number of residents of Ambo, according to the town’s communication affairs bureau.

The accused were arrested red handed and they have been
identitied as Goitom Berhe, Gebrekidan Hadush and Haile Fesseha, all from the Tigray region, according to reports.

Close analysts of the crisis in Ethiopia say the individuals might have been working on orders of the Tigrayan controlled intelligence and security apparatus, spearheaded by its chief, Getachew Assefa. The scheme was to pit residents against the local police who have joined the resistance movement against the TPLF rule, according to analysts.

Ambo has remained the epicenter of the anti-TPLF protest despite extrajudicial killings and mass arrest by the TPLF forces.