Woman pleads guilty to possessing a firearm in Mandera

A woman on Thursday pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm without a permit. 

Jamila Maalim Hussein Eymoi, 24, appearing before Mandera Senior Resident Magistrate Mukabi Kimani, said she was transporting the firearm to a potential buyer.

Police records showed that the suspect stole the AK-47 from a Somalia National Army (SNA) officer in Bulahawa, Somalia.

The firearm was fitted with a magazine loaded with at least 13 rounds of ammunition.

Eymoi also pleaded guilty of being in possession of of ammunition without a permit.

In the third count, she pleaded guilty to entering the country through an illegal point.

Eymoi entered Kenya from Somalia last Tuesday at about 6pm and proceeded to Busley estate passing through Mandera town undetected by the police.

It remained unclear how the police manning the border failed to detect the firearm in her luggage. She claimed she was cleared by police to get into Mandera from Bulahawa.

“I was given the gun by another lady in Bulahawa to bring it to someone in Mandera town. The lady told me I will have no problem at the border with the police,” a teary Eymoi told the court.

Mr Allen Mulama, the state prosecutor, asked the court to deliver its judgement on April 29 arguing that the firearm had been sent to Nairobi for ballistic examination.

Eymoi said she was picked at the Border Point Three by a man who lives in Mandera town and that she was instructed not to turn her phone on.

The court will deliver judgement on Monday.

Meanwhile, police in Lafey Sub County are searching for a lost gun belonging to an officer. The firearm got lost along the Mandera-Lafey road on Wednesday.

The gun belonging to the officer attached to the Border Patrol Unit (BPU) got lost as the officers returned to their Sheikh Barrow camp after fetching water.

According to a report filed at Lafey Police Station, the officer had placed the gun at the stairway of the police armored vehicle he was driving in a convoy of three vehicles.

He realised that the G-3 rifle serial number J61699 loaded with 20 rounds of ammunition was missing after about 10 kilometres from the water point.

Police believe the firearm dropped from the vehicle between Lafey and Kamor Liban area.

A search has since been launched to find the firearm.