By Tajeu Shadrack Nkapapa
Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Kenya’s Emergency Response Team from the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit, which represented the nation in the 2025 EAPCCO SWAT Challenge, issued an important statement yesterday in the land of a thousand hills.
This followed after a euphoric showdown with the mighty RNP of Rwanda, the skyscraping South Sudan tactical operators and other giants from Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation (EAPCCO) member countries.
Following a week of collaborative training aimed at enhancing regional cooperation and optimizing the teams’ effectiveness in counter-terrorism operations, the teams commenced an annual competition designed to evaluate their capabilities across three primary categories: obstacle navigation, tactical scenarios (hostage rescue), and assault tactics.
The DCI reported that during the Obstacle Crossing event on the first day of the competition, the agile and astute RNP SWAT teams maneuvered through the course in record time. This left South Sudan, Kenya, Djibouti, Somalia, Tanzania, Seychelles, and Uganda competing against each other amidst 19 obstacles as they battled it out for the third and subsequent positions.
In the event, ERT came fourth after South Sudan.
“But the final day marked a good day in office for the Kenyan sleuths, whose prowess and precision in tactical shooting at both stationary and moving targets remain unmatched locally and have secured a coveted spot at the global arena,” the DCI said.
“In a test of speed and efficiency, Kenya came first in the tactical event having completed the task in a record 72 seconds without any violation to the set rules. In the Assault event, Kenya came second after Rwanda men’s team amidst an elated audience of Police Chiefs and delegates from partnering international bodies,” added the DCI.
The DCI thanked Eng. Sammy Onyango, the Master Shooter who doubles as trainer and mentor of the ERT team after Kenya emerged top among Rwanda and South Sudan in the 2025 EAPCCO SWAT Challenge.