Superintendent of Police (SP) Hamdun Twizeyimana, the spokesperson for the Eastern region, said the suspects arrested on Thursday, December 15, include the owner of the vehicle identified as Ignace Mwizerwa, 45, and one Umuhizi Marie Jeanne, 46, who owns a garage in Rwamagana town.

"On December 15, Mwizerwa brought his car for inspection at Rwamagana Automobile Inspection Centre (AIC), but it failed the test due to brake failure," said SP Twizeyimana.

He added: "Instead of fixing the mechanical fault, Mwizerwa connived with Umuhizi to flip the old brake drum with the new one, took back the vehicle to the AIC, and passed the mechanical inspection.

After getting the roadworthy certificate, Mwizerwa took the vehicle back to Umuhizi’s garage to remove the new brake drum and to fix back the old and faulty one. They were arrested red-handed flipping the brake drum and handed over to RIB at Kigarama station."

SP Twizeyimana thanked a resident, who tipped off the Police about the dangerous act.

"This was so dangerous to use such criminal procedures just to acquire a mechanical inspection certificate and to put lives of people at such high risk, a practice that cannot be tolerated," the spokesperson said.

He urged owners of vehicles to think about safety first in whatever they do and to always make sure that their vehicles are roadworthy.

"It is not about passing the mechanical inspection test; it’s about knowing the status of your vehicle and fixing every identified problem for you to be safe and to make other road users safe too."