The officer “forcibly seized cell keys” while “in a state of intoxication,” Zambia’s Police Service said in a press release on Wednesday.

A drunk Zambian police officer, Detective Inspector Titus Phiri freed 13 suspects from custody for them to celebrate the New Year, officials revealed.

A drunken police officer in Zambia freed 13 suspects from custody so that they could go and celebrate the new year, officials say. Detective inspector Titus Phiri was arrested after releasing the suspects from Leonard Cheelo police station in the capital, Lusaka, before running away himself.

A police officer has been arrested over ‘drunkenly’ releasing more than a dozen prisoners so they could celebrate the new year. Detective Inspector Titus Phiri of the Zambia Police Service is accused of ‘forcibly seizing cell keys’ from a colleague on Tuesday.